Policemen during trial over oppositionist: “I prevented him from banging his head against car”

The policemen also said that he prevented Aleh Surhan from “rubbing his cheeks against the floor”.

Today during the trial in the court of Kastrychnitski district of Vitsebsk a lawyer of the oppositionist Aleh Surhan, Vyachaslau Praskalovich, maid a motion to carry out a crime re-enactment with the aim to find out whether his client had been able to bite a policemen. But the motion hasn’t been satisfied by the court, Radio Svaboda informs.

According to Judge Yauheny Burunou, it is inexpedient to carry out the experiment, as each person has one’s physical skills. So some people are able to bite a policeman’s finger lying one’s face down in the car, and others not.

The police lieutenant who had been aggrieved, Syarhei Dudkevich, still claims that defendant Aleh Surhan, had bitten his left little finger, when they were on the way to the police department of Kastrychnitski district, as the policemen prevented him from “rubbing his cheeks against the floor” and “banging his head against the panels of the car”.

Aleh Surhan states that he hadn’t bitten anyone, as he even couldn’t do that – he had been handcuffed, and thrown into the car his face down. He also told that Syarhei Dudkevich placed his feet on his neck and was not giving him an opportunity to move.

Taras Surhan, a brother of the defendant, was summoned top the court as a witness. As said by him, the incident had taken place in Vitesbsk, in Frunze Avenue, where the brothers had placed a white-red-white flag. Taras Surhan had a passport with him, so he wasn’t taken to the police department. When he came to the police department himself, he saw his brother whose face was bleeding. The brother told that he had been beaten up by policemen in the car.

Aleh Surhan’s daughter, 1 22-year-old Katsyaryna Alyakseeva, also confirmed that her father had been beaten up seriously, and policemen refused to call in ambulance. It was done only after Aleh Surhan fell unconscious. Katsyaryna Alyakseeva also underlined that her father is a calm and very reserved person, so words of the policemen that he went amok, attacked them and used foul speech, are considered a lie by her.

Today in the corridor of the court Aleh Surhan said to policemen Dudkevich in presence of policemen that he considers him not an injured party but a criminal. The policemen shoot that by the camera of his mobile phone. Taras Surhan does not exclude that in revenge Dudkevich would go to the court again, saying that his dignity and business reputation had been damaged.

The incident in related to the case took place on September 3, 2009. 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 police 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 policeman’s finger during the detention.