Beaten activist fined 2.5m rubles

Judge Ivan Lastouski from the Slonim district court heard a case of BCD activist Volha Panasevich on June 12.

The activist was fined 25 basic units over two articles of the Code of Administrative Offences, Radio Svaboda reports.

Volha Panasevich was detained in the city centre on April 21. She was forcefully pushed into a car and taken to a police department. She spent three days in a cell, where she was beaten and made to take stress positions. After the release, Volha Panasevich recorded the signs of beatings on her body and filed a claim to the prosecutor's office. Later, she was charged with swearing and showing disobedience to police.

A forensic examination report describing signs of beating was presented at the trial, but the judge delivered a judgement against the activist. Volha Panasevich says:

“There were witnesses for my side. The other side was represented by policemen, The court delivered a judgement basing on their evidence. As far as I understand, the judge had a decision before oral arguments. I was fined 5 basic units over article 17.1 and 20 basic units over article 23.4. A total sum in 2.5 million rubles.”