Cyber activists leak conversation where police chiefs tell judges how to punish protesters
Cyber partisans have published another recording of a conversation in which a man with a voice similar to Colonel Raman Melnik talks with presumably Vital Kazlou, first deputy of the Internal Affairs Department of Minsk City Executive Committee. The colonel orders judges not to issue warnings and fines but to punish detained protesters with administrative arrests.
A group of hackers, calling themselves “Cyber-Partisans,” has published a recording of conversations between police officials on the Web. The audio recording features individuals whose voices resemble those of Raman Melnik, who is now the head of the administration of the Leninsky district in Minsk. Still, until May 28 last year, he served as head of the Main Department of Law Enforcement and Prevention of Public Security Police of the Interior Ministry. In a conversation with, allegedly, Vitaly Kazlou, first deputy of the Administration of Internal Affairs of Minsk City Executive Committee, the colonel expressed dissatisfaction that judges handed down lenient sentences to detained protesters and demanded that people be thrown behind bars. Vital Kazlou, in turn, required the same from the alleged head of the Dzyarzhynsk police department, Vital Zhylinski.
The cyber partisans report that the conversation recording was made on September 2 and 8, 2020.
“Go ahead and change this situation. No one should come out of there with warnings,” says Raman Melnik.
“We spoke with the president of the court… The president said: “Tell us if you think someone should get jail time, and we’ll decide the rest,” said Vitali Zhylinski.
In Belarus, the judiciary is officially independent. Putting pressure on judges and demanding something of them is a criminal offense.
