Liberalization is long way off: Minsk police severely beat opposition politician

The Minsk police brutally detained Vyachaslau Siuchyk, the leader of the solidarity movement “Together on April 19 at about 3 am at the entrance of the apartment block he lives in.

According to his mother Halina, the policemen had been long watching out for the politician before they arrested and battered him.

Siuchyk managed to phone his wife who came running to the scene. But the woman was pushed and said that her husband had used bad language. 

Vyachaslau Siuchyk is accused of petty crime and disobedience to the police’s orders. 

Since the beginning of the year, there have been several high-profile scandals for the Belarusian police. In January, tut.by journalist Pavel Dabravolski who was covering the ‘graffiti case’ was beaten by plain-clothed police officers in the building of a court in Minsk . In Brest region, a road police officer insulted a driver saying ‘F*ck you’ but remained unpunished.

In February, Belarusian president Alyaksandr Lukashenka reiterated that the country’s law enforcement agencies should do their best to improve their public image and strive for being liked by citizens.

Read also: ‘Polite people’: How Minsk police prevent Belarus journos from working (video)

belsat.eu following spring96.org