Dzyanis is 21 years old, he likes to ride a scooter. Once the young man rode into the hypermarket “Korona” in Minsk. When the guards ordered him to take the scooter away, Dzyanis politely asked to explain why…
“A policeman came and took me into the guards room. There I asked why they were detaining me. He started shouting and using foul language. I immediately called 102 (the police), because I am not very accustomed to hear such things from policemen,” Dzyanis Tarmanau, who is now accused of hooliganism, says.
However, the quest for justice failed. Dzyanis was taken to Frunzenski district police department and charged with disorderly conduct – the policemen said he was waving his arms, using foul language and did not respond to their demands – to cut it short, the formulations which are not uncommon when arresting opposition activists were applied to the scooter rider. Dzyanis did not admit guilty. Then the policemen put him in a cell for the night. On Wednesday the case over the administrative offence report was heard.
Law enforcement officers cannot lie!
“Judge Yarokhina asked whether I had talked obscenities, I answered in the negative. But she said that as the witnesses (the policemen) were in the discharge of their duties, they could not lie!” Dzyanis expressed outrage.
The judge promised that Dzyanis would be sentenced to 15 days in custody for ‘defiance’. The hearing was deferred to Friday.
Earlier, the Belarusian police felt free to grossly violate the rights of opposition activists, but the number of cases of ‘ordinary Belarusians’ falling victim to police abuse are growing these days, human rights activist Aleh Vouchak stresses. Policemen ofteb detain citizens just for a mild and legal request to show their identity and even groundlessly use force to those who do not agree with the fact of detention. They break law because they remain unpunished.
“There is no prosecutor’s control in our country. The prosecutor’s office must respond unequivocally: to initiate criminal proceedings, conduct inspections, punish those exceeding teir authority,” Vouchak, a former investigator of the prosecutor’s office, says.
Activists, journalists, footbal players- all at gunpoint
Syarhei Bulynyonak, a football player of Ashmyany club, found himself in the thick of another police brutality story. Special forces of the Anti-Corruption Department detained the players and coaches on suspicion of organizing a ‘match by agreement’. A riot policeman severely injured Syarhei. Later, however, the Interior Ministry said Bulynyonak had repeatedly kicked the armed commando kicked in the chest…
“This is not true! There was no resistance. During the arrest, they simply pulled us out of the car and put on the sidewalk. There was only one blow – I was punched in the face. Tomorrow I will have to undergo an operation,” Syarhei Bulynyonak states.
According to human rights activists, the police officer should avoid appealing to force, but if they have to resort to it, they should try not to harm or maim a person.
Two weeks ago, the local police brutally detained independent journalists Kastus Zhukouski and Alyaksei Atroshchanka in the town of Loyeu (Homiel region). At the police station Zhukouski was simply tortured: the police officers battered him, put knees against his head and tried to strangle him. No policeman has been punished for the incident yet.
Yaraslau Stseshyk/MS, belsat.eu
