Mahilyou Human Rights Activist Placed To Detention Centre

Valadar Tsurpanau was detained yesterday in the building of the regional prosecutor’s office.

He came there to hand in his complaint. After an assistant prosecutor refused to accept his complaint in his office and forwarded Valadar Tsurpanau to a lobby, the human rights activists started to demand to give a book of complaints and suggestions to him. After that a policeman in the lobby asked questions about Valadar’s identity, despite of the fact that Tsurpanau had showed his passport when entered. A little argument took place, and then he was detained. He stayed in the building of the regional prosecutor’s office for 2.5 hours. A human rights activist Barys Bukhel was beside him, the human rights centre Viasna reports.

After that he was taken to the building in Krylenka Street. There Tsurpanau said he was a representative of a journalist Sasha Burakou, however this right was denied to him:

– He was taken in a car of security subdivision by three policemen at 3.45 p.m. They wanted to bring him to the police department very quickly. When we started to demand me to be allowed to enter as a representative under the Constitution, one of the policemen said that only Tsurpanau would be allowed to enter the department, and if we didn’t like anything, we could address the court later, – Burakou commented on the incident.

At 4.10 p.m. the term of detention was to be finished. However Tsurpanau was taken out of the police department at about 7 p.m. Before that there was no opportunity to contact him – he left his phone to Bukhel, and calls to the police department were not answered. When journalists by ringing the door made a policemen look out, the latter refused to comment anything – he only showed by gestures that he would not say anything. At 7 p.m. Tsurpanau was taken to the temporary detention centre.

Barys Bukhel, who was near the place of detention for a considerable period of time, believes policemen had grossly violated the Code of Execution Procedure:

– It is a gross violation that he had been detained for more than 3 hours without charge or trial. If you think that a person had committed a crime – please, take him to a court or to the detention centre. Three hours are more than enough for examination of case and drawing up a report. Wife was to pack some things for him, and on the next day, May 31, a court was to take place. However, the exact time was unknown.