Slutsk Activist Won Case Against Police

Now Yury Miatselski is suing would-be witnesses in epaulets.

On February 22, Judge Aliaksandr Tarasiuk considered in the Slutsk district court the administrative case against HRC Viasna volunteer Yury Miatselski. The guy was accused of "petty hooliganism" (Article 17.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses) – he allegedly swore at a public place, spring96.org reports.

Riot policemen Miadzvedski and Makeyeu, who detained Yuri Metelsky on New Year's Eve, were witnesses at the trial. They said in court that the guy had been using foul language when talking to his friend, and initially they had had no intention to detain him, but just wanted to conduct a preventive conversation. However, Yury Miatselski had not recognized his guilt on-the-spot, had not apologized, but instead tried to grab one of the riot policeman’s badge.

However, it was indicated in the reports submitted earlier by Miadzvedski and Makeyeu that the guy was abusively expressed in the address of citizens who allegedly were nearby.

Yury’s friend, who was together with the accused on the night of the events, made a witness at the trial that, at the time of the detention, there were no people around them, the riot policemen stopped them, demanded their documents, did not conduct any conversations, did not make comments, Yury Miatselski did not swear, but tried to note down the numbers from the police officers’ badges, for which he was detained.

Having heard the testimony of witnesses, having examined the materials of the case, Judge Aliaksandr Tarasiuk came to the conclusion that the case was to be closed due to the lack of evidence of committing an administrative offense by Yury Miatselski.

Now the Viasna volunteer is going to appeal his illegal two-day detention in a holding facility and surcharge compensation via the court.

We remind that Yury Miatselski was detained on the night of January 1 by the Slutsk riot police. One of the riot policemen was outraged that during the identity check of Yury and his friend, the Viasna volunteer asked the riot policeman to present the documents as well. That became the reason for the detention, although later Yury was accused of being in a state of intoxication in a public place (Article 17.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses).

Then, when Yury was taken to the police station, it became clear that Article 17.3 had "turned" into 17.1, – Yury was accused of swearing in a public place. After psychological and physical pressure on the part of the district inspector Aliaksandr Savin (he put an armlock on Yury Miatselski and, using strong language, demanded to sign the papers), Yury signed the protocol, but specified that he did not agree with its content and did not admit his guilt. After that, the guy spent two days in a temporary detention facility.