11mn rubles for a truncheon strike and burnt eyes

The sum is to be paid by protesters at Bruzhi border crossing point.

The police department of the Hrodna region executive committee decides that protesters must pay for services of policemen, who had to disperse and detain protesters on their day off, Belsat reports.

36 defendants do not understand the essence of the claim. They are convinced that work of police should be paid by the state. Moreover, they have already been obliged by court to pay fines from 30 to 80 basic units.

Andrei, a defendant, says that policemen beat him with batons and sprayed pepper spray in the eyes in a police van, though he did not show resistance. “I said in court that I was ready to pay only for fuel used by the police van to take me to a police department, pepper from the pepper spray and asked how much a baton strike cost,” Andrei says.

Another defendant, Andrei Ablazhevich, thinks that court makes the lawsuit political.

The second trial was held today. The Leninski district court of Hrodna sustained a motion by policemen to conduct the trial behind closed doors. The motion was supported by a prosecutor and representatives of the customs service, while protests by defendants were ignored.

The amount of the claim was changed: police raised it from 6.5 million rubles to 11.115 million rubles, the customs service decreased it from 152,000 to 52,000 rubles.