Tortures in Minsk police department: Like Gestapo

A car parking guard was tortured in Minsk Lenin district’s police department for six hours.

The policemen used sticks and handcuffs for better effectiveness of investigative activities, and when the “criminal” went unconscious, they poured cold water on him, a human rights organization Platforma reports.

What seems incredible at first sight was a real story that happened on 14 November 2012 to Vasili Sarochyk, a guard of the car parking Romen in Malinina street in Minsk.

As the pensioner told human rights activists, two policemen, one of them in mufti, came to the parking guard’s post where he works. Without showing any documents they ordered Vasili Sarochyk to pick up his stuff and follow them to the Lenin Police department. The policemen did not explain what exactly the reasons for the detention were, but only allowed the guard to call the parking’s owner, when the guard told that he could not leave the parking unattended.

Sarochyk spent around an hour in the room of the Lenin police department’s call center. Then a young woman in mufti came after him and invited him to follow her into the room 235 on the fourth floor of the building. As it became known later the young woman in mufti was Bagdanouskaya Zh.P., the Lenin police department’s police agent, who in the course of the questioning also introduced herself as an “owner of the Svelta marketplace”, which is apparently under protection of the Lenin police department according to the old traditions from the 1990-ies.

In the room Bagdanouskaya Zh.P. unexpectedly handcuffed Vasili with his hand behind his back and started beating the old man up, demanding to confess that he stole the tombstones that were stored at the parking. The guard, who did not understand anything, tried to explain that he had no idea of what she was talking about, which made the woman angrier and she started to severely kick the man  at the head and body.

From time to time other police department’s officials joined the beating; so far it has not brought not succeeded trying to identify them. Having not received the information that they were interested in, the investigators applied the so-called swallow to the pensioner, accompanying the torturing with swearing and threats of murder.

In such a position Sarochyk spent not less than three hours being constantly beaten up. All that time the sadists had been trying to persuade him that he was a thief and demanded to confess where he put the stolen granite for tombstones and monuments, which belonged to an entrepreneur Bezruchonak A.V. , According to the investigators, apart from granite, Vasili stole fuel and accumulators from cars and periodically robbed stalls at the Svelta marketplace. The pensioner could not agree that he was a thief with such a broad profile that is why he kept denying everything receiving kick at his head and body for that.

After an hour break (the torturers apparently took a rest and had a lunch), which Vasili Sarochyk spent in a cell without handcuffs, the beatings resumed with sticks this time. When the man fell unconscious, they would bring him back to consciousness by pouring cold water on him…

Having submitted an appeal to the prosecutor’s office of Minsk’s Lenin district and having received a referral for a medical examination, Vasili managed to register the beatings and addressed Platforma for help.

Because of that fact Platforma sent a message to the Prosecutor General’s office, the Ministry f Interior and the Investigatory Committee of the Republic of Belarus.

The inspection will be held by the Lenin district’s department of the Investigatory Committee.

“The person appealed to the prosecutor’s office, the appeal was registered, an decision for him to take a forensic medical examination was taken. According to the Criminal Code, the documents for an inspection were send to the Lenin district’s department of the Investigatory Committee”, - senior assistant to Minsk’s prosecutor Siargei Balashau told Interfax on Tuesday.