Vitsebsk dwellers dismiss evidence of militiamen at trial over Aleh Surhan

Opposition activist Aleh Surhan, taken to militia for a national white-red-white flag in September 2009 and beaten up there, stands trial in Vitsebsk.

Tatsyana Sevyarynets, a Vitebsk coordinator of the organizing committee on creating the part Belarusian Christian Democracy, told BelaPAN opposition activist Aleh Surhan pleaded not guilty.

Trial over Surhan started in Vitsebsk on February 9. He is charged with committing a crime investigated by article 364 of the Criminal Code (violence or threat of violence against a law-enforcement officer). The maximum punishment in this case is 6-year imprisonment. Surhan was released on his own recognizance, but was detained and taken to a detention facility on January 27.

According to Tatsyana Sevyarynets, six people gave their evidence on the trial February 9. “Militiamen gave controversial evidence. They said a 1.5-litre bottle of beer stood near Surhan at the moment of detention, Surhan was drunk, disobey to militiamen, hit a militiamen in chest in the car, threatened to break all windows in a militia department, so physical use and special devices were used to calm him down. The militiamen stated they had not been rude,” Sevyarynets said.

However, newspaper seller, a witness of the detention, said there had not been any bottles of beer, Surhan had been sober, militiamen had been rude and put Surhan his face to a puddle.

The opposition activist pleaded not guilty and said militiamen had been tortured him in the department.

The incident related to the case took place on September 3, 2009. As Tatsyana Sevyarynets said, Aleh Surhan and his younger brother Taras were detained at a bus stop near Vitsebsk Medical University, where a white-red-white flag was hung out. “The report, drawn up in the Kastrychnitski district militia department, said Aleh was accused of hanging out a flag. But later this report disappeared. A new report says Aleh Surhan was drunk in public, used obscene language and bit a militiaman’s finger during the detention,” Sevyarynets said.