Journalist and activists get beaten, fined in Minsk court


Tut.by journalist Pavel Dabravolski was beaten in the court of the Frunze district of Minsk while covering the ‘graffiti case.’

Pavel Dabravolski said that several riot police officers beat him with their feet for 20 minutes, paying no attention to his journalist ID. According to Dabravolsky, they took his phone and erased all the data.

Dabravolsky was filming police take Pavel Syarhei and Maxim Shitsik out of the court room for organizing a protest with a banner ‘No political persecution’ and slogans ‘Art is not a crime’.

According to human rights defenders, the detained activists and journalists were beaten in one of the premises of the Court. After that they were taken to the police station, where an administrative report under article “contempt of court” and “disobeying the official” were filed against them.

Later Syarhei, Shitsikau and Dabravolski were taken back to court. The first of them was fined 10.5 million rubles, the rest – 9.45 million. This decision was passed by the Judge Maryia Yarokhina, with police officer Syarhei Kavalchuk as witness.

belsat.eu

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