Ashmiany Football Player: Our Detention Reminded Racketeering

Vadzim Batsianouski told about details of his detention by law enforcers.

– After the game we took a quick shower, I said: “Who’s first, you are welcome to my car, 4 persons, and we are going back to Minsk.” And four persons took places. When we left Ashmiany, we drove about 30 km away. And jeep Lexus with tinted windows cut us off there. One more car cut us off, Ford or Volkswagen. Big young guys in shorts jumped out of the cars. Sasha Stankevich cried from the back seat: “block the door.” But I was at a loss and missed a chance to do so. My door opens, I receive a blow in the face… I start to strike arm blows aside. And when I saw a gun, I stopped fighting – the football player of Ashmiany Vadzim Batsianouski said in the interview to by.tribuna.com.

– Did you understand they were policemen?

– Information from their press release that they showed credentials during the detention is a lie. The first though was that they were some kind of racketeers. But when I saw a gun, they said they were policemen. They made me lie prone, my hands on the nape. I had such stupid thoughts then: maybe someone of the passengers had illicit drugs… I had all kind of absurd ideas. We were taken to the roadside verge and placed on the grass. When we were told to stand up, my car had already been driven away. When we were lying, they came up to each of us and asked: “Name, surname, date of birth, place of work.” Then they made I stand up one by one and asked the same in front of the camera.

– Bulynionak caught it most. Police states that he had kicked a riot policeman from the back seat of the car. Have you seen that?

– And have you seen Bulynionak? He is a knee-high to a grasshopper, and he won’t ever head for trouble. But at the moment of detention policemen were pinning my arms to my sides, and I saw nothing.

– What else were you asked in front of the camera?

– Whether we knew why we were detained. And when the question about rigged games was asked, it became more or less clear what this mess was all about.

– How do you think, why the detention was so cruel? Was it to intimidate the detainees and make them talk?

– If a traffic police car would have arrived – nobody would resist certainly. Even if they would have cut us off and simply showed the IDs, I am sure no one would move. And as it was, the attack looked like racketeering. I cannot call it in a different way. It will be very frustrating if such things are to remain unpunished, – the football player said.

We remind that on July 2 a 23-year-old football player Siarhei Bulynionak was beaten up after a game of the 11th tour of the First League of the Belarus Championship between Ashmiany – Luch (Minsk) teams.