Kanstantsin Astapuk: Witnesses-Policemen Lie

In Brest, yet another opponent of the construction of a battery plant was convicted.

On October 10, the administrative case of Kanstantsin Astapuk was considered in the Leninski district court of Brest, the human rights center Viasna reports. He is accused of “disobeying police officers” under Article 23.4 of the Code of Administrative Offences.

Kanstantsin Astapuk, who disagreed with the construction of the battery plant, was detained on September 30. During the detention he felt bad. They called an ambulance. The police took him to the hospital for examination, and then delivered to the temporary detention facility. Astapuk, the same as blogger Siarhei Piatrukhin, spent a day before the trial in the temporary detention facility of the Leninski District Department of Internal Affairs in the city of Brest. On October 1, they were brought to the court of the Leninski district court of Brest.

The case of Kanstantsin Astapuk was considered by judge Sviataslau Kalina. The judge resolved to prosecute the man in the form of a fine in the amount of 14 base fees for violation of Part 1 of Article 23.34.

However, in the corridor, right at the door of the courtroom, Astapuk was handed a subpoena to appear in the Leninski District Department of Internal Affairs "for disobedience to the police officers" under Article 23.4.

The trial was held today. Photo and video-recording was banned.

In court, Astapuk petitioned for the recusal of judge Dzmitry Shuryn. A 15-minute break was announced for the consideration of the petition. The petition was declined.

During the break, Astapuk said that an ambulance came to the detention facility twice, and he had veins injections.

Astapuk testifies that he was detained for an inscription on a T-shirt and was punished for this twice: for violating the traffic rules and under Article 23.34 of the Code of Administrative Offenses:

"Then I heard the policeman’s cries and ran away. I felt bad. I called an ambulance and held on to the railing so as not to fall, and this can be seen in the video, and the witnesses lie that I was resisting, and I crossed the road with the riot policemen, when they escorted me into their car. The policemen had video recorders, you can see that there was no disobedience. "

Witness, police officer Viktar Krauchuk, was interrogated next.

He testified that Astapuk was in the square, where there were a lot of people, he was wearing a green T-shirt. Astapuk took off and threw the T-shirt and started running away, and they detained him, from the side of the roadway. He complained about his health, and leaned onto the fence.

Witness - policeman Aliaksei Harunou said the following:

"There was an event in the square, feeding the pigeons, there were 2 masked men. We approached and offered they should come with us. He refused and ran away. He was detained, expressed dissatisfaction with the detention, shouted, grabbed hold of the railing. We called the ambulance to the Leninski District Department of Internal Affairs. As soon as we delivered him there, to the room for the detainees, the doctors came. He said that he was ill and was taken to the hospital under escort."

Astapuk says: "I wasn’t taken to the hospital, the captain forced the doctor Dzmitry Kachanan to write a certificate that I could be held in the detention facility, but with appropriate recommendations."

Witness Dzmitry Bekalyuk:

"When I ran out of grains, I returned to the house and saw a visually familiar person, when he came over me I heard a loud command "Stand still!" I looked around and saw people in the police uniform, who, however, behaved inappropriately to how police officers must behave, I was scared, maybe they were robbers? Astapuk ran across the street, the officers and the man in civilian clothes came up. He introduced himself to me and asked not to interfere, like, they would handle it themselves. I saw a person was feeling bad, he sat on the ground, clang to handrails, police officers supported him. "

Witness Siarhei Svirski explained that he had seen Astapuk holding onto the railing, asking for an ambulance. But a bus drove up, he was put into it and taken away. Astapuk was staggering, he felt bad, he held on to the fence so as not to fall over. Astapuk called an ambulance; they didn’t see the police doing it.

In court, they watched the video from the registrar of police officers.

Judge Shuryn announced a break to make a decision.

The resolution was to fine him for three base fees.