Syarhei Parsyukevich: “It’s clear that Surhan is not a criminal but a victim”

Syarhei Parsyukevich was among the people who presented at reading the judgement to Aleh Surhan. The former political prisoner says Surhan’s case is very similar to his one.

As Radio Svaboda reminds, entrepreneur Syarhei Parsyukevich was sentenced to 2.5 years of imprisonment in April 2008 on accusation of beating an officer of the Minsk prison in Akrestsin Street Alyaksandr Dulub.

“The cases are very similar. It’s clear that Surhan is not a criminal but a victim. Frankly speaking, it was a surprise for me that he got only six months in jail. He could have got at least three years. He is lucky. He could have been thrown into prison for a longer term,” Syarhei Parsyukevich said.

According to the former political prisoner, militiamen apparently exceeded their power in case with Aleh Surhan.

“Militiamen exceeded their power again,” Syarhei Parsyukevich says. “As far as I know, patrol-guard service does this rather often. This came to light. They try to defend themselves. Secondly, this is an occasion to throw a person who hung out a flag into prison. This was the reason. Later, they said Surhan had been drunk, but this is not true.”

Syarhei Parsyukevich was surprised to hear false evidence of Vitsebsk militiamen.

“This phrasing – bit a finger – sounds like nonsense. First, what was this finger doing in someone else’s mouth? How can a handcuffed person, lying face down, bite someone? This is absurd. But this caused no questions of the court. The same happened to me,” the former political prisoner says.

We remind that Aleh Surhan, detained for hanging out a national white-red-white flag, was sentenced to six months in jail on February 19.

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.

The oppositionist had bruises on his faces after detention in a militia department.

According to militiaman Syarhei Dudkevich, Aleh Surhan was “rubbing his cheeks against the floor” and “banging his head against the panels of the car”, so afflicting bodily harm to himself.