Riot Policemen Continue to Beat Up People :: Charter'97 :: News

Yesterday duringdetention of youth activists near the court of Maskouski district of Minsk, riot policemen broke a finger of one of the detainees, Pavel Drazdou. The Charter’97 press center was informed about that by a human rights activist Ales Kalita. As said by him, at the moment pavel Drazdou is in the paddy wagon in front of the court of Maskouski district. Hearings in his administrative case are to start soon. At the moment the case of Krystsina Shatsikava is considered. As said by Ales Kalita, a lip of the girl is injured, and her jacket torn. It was done by riot policemen.

Riot policemen charge Pavel and Krystsina, as well as other activists illegally detained yesterday, with violation of the article 156 (petty hooliganism) and say at the trail that the young people used foul language.

It is not the first occurrence of riot policemen’s brutalities against oppositionists. On May 10 a youth activist Lubou Kuchynskaya was beaten up by riot policemen and taken to a hospital with a hypertensic crisis.

Crimes of riot policemen should be investigated by the prosecutor’s office. However, none of the policemen had been punished for beating up oppositionists. Last year a riot policemen hit on the face Svyatlana Zavadsky, a wife of the disappeared journalist Dzmitry Zavadsky, during a rally in his memory. The UCP leader Anatol Lyabedzka, a youth leader Mikita Sasim and many other peaceful protesters were beaten up brutally. Culprits had not been brought to account.