Ukrainian football fan: Our guys were taken to Homel vicinities and battered

Here are some new details of Ukrainians’ detention after the match in Barysau.

A representative of Dinamo Kyiv fans, Vitaly, told Football.ua about how and on what pretext fans in Belarus were detained.

- Mass media inform that all the detainees were released by Belarusian police…

- It seems to be true. At least, our consul visited all Minsk police departments again and no one from our citizens was found there.

- Why were people detained at the border, when they entered the country?

- Well, they were not simply detained, some of them were not even allowed to move on. In particular, Alexander Zozulya (a journalist) [was stopped] because of stickers.

- By the way, before departure Zozulya wrote on his Facebook account “we are having lots of patriotic stickers with us”…

- So that’s why they had not been allowed to enter the country.

- And after the game, what accusations there where against them?

- Officially – “use of foul language”. But in fact, the real reason is clear. For instance, one guy from Stryj was allegedly detained for a flare, though he had been next to me all the time, and he had no flare for sure. It is clear that the reason was the atmosphere created by us during the game: our flares and so on…

- Was there abuse of power during detention?

- Some of our guys, 6 of them arrested in Minsk, were forwarded to Homel later, and the local police there decided to show their zeal. With the words: “You are not in the capital here, here is a kolkhoz”, they took us to a filed and battered. And notably, there were mostly young guys there, the oldest was 22 years old. On the other hand, those 12 guys arrested in Barysau, were treated politely.

- What impression have the Belarusian fans made?

- They are wonderful guys! We are grateful for reception and assistance. I am glad that amid such a difficult situation they manage to remain unusually well-balanced.

- Have they asked about the situation in your country, in particular about the Anti-Terrorist operation?

- Yes, they are well-informed. They value our good Internet resources. By the way, they told that once during the events in Maidan they placed a banner “Glory to Ukraine!” during a game, and they were also arrested after the match, and fined.

- How the situation was settled?

- Our consul was a great help, he attended the trial, and later he transported some of the fans in his car. Our Embassy participated as well. And finally, as far as I have understood, everything was decided at the highest level.