New video: Security forces brutalising shoppers in Minsk store amid post-election protests
On February 24, Telegram channel Nick and Mike published a video of the police’s brutal dispersal and attack on random people on August, 11.
The video was filmed in the Almi store on Prytytski Street in Minsk. In the video, fully equipeed security officers break into the store and start battering casual customers. The footage shows that both men and women were beaten, youngsters were grabbed by the hair, people were put face down on the floor.
On 9 August 2020, the large-scale protests started in the country; the major demands of Belarusians were Alyaksndr Lukashenka’s resignation; holding a free and fair election; releasing political prisoners; putting an end to police violence as well as bringing to justice those involved in battering and torturing peaceful demonstrators. In the post-election period criminal cases were instituted against more than 900 citizens, including Belsat TV journalists Katsyaryna Andreyeva and Darya Chultsova. There are at least seven death cases that are linked to the post-election protests. By the moment, 249 defendants were recognised as political prisoners by the Belarusian human rights community.
Several thousand detainees filed complaints against police officers’ illegal actions to the Investigative Committee. However, not a single criminal case has been opened over the citizens’ appeals.
