BHC demands to investigate Sannikov’s statement on tortures in KGB jail

The Belarusian Helsinki Committee has sent an appeal to the Prosecutor General’s office concerning the statement of the presidential candidate Andrei Sannikov about tortures in the KGB remand prison.

On May 12 during the public court proceedings in the court of Partyzanski district of Minsk, the presidential candidate Andrei Sannikov made a public statement that torture had been used against him in order to force him to give necessary evidence in the mass riots criminal case investigation.

In particular, in his statement Sannikov told about the following kinds of torture used against him in the KGB jail:

- he was prohibited from using the toilet for a long time (5 hours);

- he was placed into a cell without a plank bed for him (he was offered a board under a plank bed), it was very cold there;

- in the cell with a place in a plank bed he was forced to lie with his face turned to the daylight, and at night – to the lamp on the ceiling; when he wanted to turn over while sleeping, all his cellmates were woken up, and he was made to sleep in the same position again;

- bodily search: he was made to leave the cell with all his personal things, including his mattress and bed-linen, he was forced to run down a steep stepladder, in a cold concrete room in the basement, forced to strip off, to stand in a stretch-out position (feets wider than shoulders) and squat. He was forced by trained people in masks (at least three persons), who were shouting on the top of their voices, banging on the walls and stairs with their clubs; sometimes they hit him on the back and legs;

- he was constantly handcuffed in detention center, even when moved a short distance away. Sometimes his arms were twisted behind the back and raised, forcing the person walk bend over;

- blackmailing and threats to life and health of his son and wife (uttered by the KGB chairman Vadzim Zaitsau, investigator Mironau, Lauranchuk, an officer of the criminal investigation department Fyatsisau);

- he was forced to watch the internal TV. Films with lurid violence scenes, anti-Semitic films were demonstrated (“Russia stabbed in the back”).

“Use of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment is banned by international agreements, which have been signed by Belarus, and the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus and laws adopted on its basis,” the Belarusian Helsinki Committee reminds the Prosecutor General.

That is why the BHC asks to carry out investigation and initiate a criminal case under articles envisaging responsibility for abuse of power and use of violence by official persons; to bring to responsibility the responsible; and to inform the BHC about the results.

The BHC reminds that concerned citizens who had learns about the facts of torture, can send in he same application in one’s own name to the Prosecutor General’s office.