Witness of tortures accused of theft

Yury Lingo, a former prisoner who reported about beating in a penal colony in Hlubokaye (the Vitsebsk region), was released from the police department in Smarhon.

Andrei Bandarenka, the director of Platform informational and educational association told this to BelaPAN.

As earlier reported by BelaPAN, police officers detained Lingo, a resident of Smarhon, in the evening of September 6 and demanded he should confess to a theft. Yury was not given an opportunity to see a lawyer and Platform representatives. He spent the night in the police department and could phone to Bandarenka only at 10 am on September 7, when he was taken to the police department to consider his administrative offence.

Bandarenka says no administrative offences were considered in the department. “Lingo was told he was accused of stealing money from his friend and then released,” Bandarenka said.

Bandarenka says he cannot reach Lingo, because his cell phone was seized. A lawyer plans to see Lingo tomorrow to figure out the details.

Yury Lingo, a former prisoner of a penal colony oin Hlubokaye, reported at a press conference on August 1 about facts of beating of prisoners.