Police Nearly Kill Homel Journalist

Kanstantsin Zhukouski went to the traffic police to take his driver's license, but found himself in the hospital.

They put pressure on him when he contributed for Belsat, he stopped cooperating - they still put pressure on him. Freelance journalist Kanstantsin Zhukouski from Homel told about another clash with the authorities.

"I could have died. They just jeopardized my life, this is a crime committed by policemen," - says Kanstantsin Zhukouski.

On the eve, Zhukouski came to the local traffic police to finally return the driver's license, which he was deprived of a year ago. But the police refused to return the document, without even explaining the reasons. Then the journalist asked to show him with the case materials.

"Both administrative processes and the Constitution of our country guarantee every citizen the right to receive information that affects their rights and legitimate interests," - explains human rights activist Leanid Sudalenka.

However, instead of the case materials, which Zhukouski demanded from the traffic inspectors, they brought only a pile of unsewn papers, one third of the text in which was hidden behind white sheets.

"I tore down one sheet, which covered the materials of the case, there I noticed something for which they deprived me of the rights. There it was written directly ... [Like] after viewing the material that was aired by the television channel, the criminals in the epaulettes found offenses on the part of Zhukouski, for which they deprived him of his rights and imposed a 10 base fees of fine on him. That is exactly what they have been hiding for the whole year," - the journalist says.

According to Zhukouski, when he started taking photographs of these documents, an unhealthy atmosphere was created in the traffic police department, and the inspectors immediately called the police and the Investigatory Committee.

"They wanted to start a criminal case against me, but only made a report under Art. 17.1 - the disruption of the work of state services," - Zhukouski said.

After six hours in the duty room, the freelancer was taken to court. Along the way, Zhukouski said that he was ill, and many times he asked the policemen to call an ambulance and let him go to the toilet.

"The policemen did not react in any way. They said: "Already called" or "be patient". I could not stand it and I did not want to suffer! I felt even worse ... ", - adds the freelancer.

They called the ambulance in the end - already in the courtroom, where they almost carried Zhukouski. The doctors took the journalist to the hospital, where they recorded fever and high blood pressure. They prescribed the man treatment and bed rest.

The wife of the freelancer also suffered. The traffic policemen stopped the car, in which Alena Zhukouskaya and her husband's associates went to court. They made a protocol for ... a „Pahonia’’sticker on the body of the car.

Yesterday, Kanstantsin Zhukouski filed complaints about the actions of the police to the prosecutor's office, the Investigatory Committee and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, having sent them to the central offices of the said departments.