Police beat Vitebsk dweller for watching Charter97 website

An unprecedented incident happened in an Internet club at the central railway station in Minsk.

The head of the Internet project “Electronic Vitebsk” visited an Internet club at the Minsk central railway station at 8 in the morning. Shortly afterwards, he was thrown out of the club for reading news on the pro-opposition website charter97.org.

“The woman who accepted payments for using the Internet and wrote down my passport data, came to me and said, 'Close this site, please!' I asked why I should do so. She did not reply and left, but returned in five minutes with a policeman, who grabbed me by the collar and thrown out of the Internet club. He said I was swearing and insulting a police officer. He guarded me to a room on the ground floor and began to beat me. I was told I would have big problems if I were seen in the Internet club at the railway station again. In such a country we live, where people are not allowed to read news,” the journalist told charter97.org.