Blogger Siarhei Piatrukhin Confronts Police Lawlessness

Security officials use such means as lies, concealment of facts and banal arbitrariness.

Brest blogger Siarhei Piatrukhin is accused by investigators under Part 2 of Article 188 and Part 2 of Art. 189 of the Criminal Code – “defamation and insult, inflicted in a public speech, or in a printed or publicly demonstrated work, or in the media,” Homel Viasna writes.

The reason for bringing the blogger to criminal responsibility under the “Slander” article was a video that was filmed in the courthouse of the Leninski district of Brest in March last year and was broadcast on YouTube's video hosting. In it, Siarhei Piatrukhin, as stated in the resolution, gives information regarding the local inspector of the Leninski district police department Siarghei Ihnatsiuk.

But if to speak concisely, without bureaucratic balderdash, Siarhei Piatrukhin briefly reports in it the story, which happened with Brest resident Pavel Kaminski two years ago: he informed the Investigation Committee that on July 3, 2016, he had been severely and unnecessarily beaten up by Leninski district police department employees. And surprisingly, that dramatic story took place on the Independence Day of Belarus, in a cafe where Pavel with a friend had come to celebrate the national holiday.

But the Investigation Committee stubbornly did not see any reason to initiate a criminal case against the police officers, who were not even removed from their duties for the time of investigation.

126 days of checks in total for the two and a half years since the incident; seven canceled orders of the investigator of the Investigative Committee district department, and the absence of a full-fledged investigation of the case – are these convincing arguments of the policemen’s innocence? Here is a particularly “weighty argument” in favor of their innocence: since you, guy, has been a hooligan and a drinker before, it means no one has beaten you.

Wait, what does it mean: has not beaten? And who did all that?

“They grabbed my arms, forcibly dragged me to the police station in Spartyunaya Street, and there they brutally beat me up. They threatened to kill me, and then dragged me out of the police station into the street and sprayed from my canister into my eyes,” – injured Pavel Kaminski recalls.

The policemen have their own cunning answer: “During the investigation,” i.e. right in the police station, he was beaten... by his own mother. Here is the question: why does the investigator trust that much the explanations of Kaminski’s ex-wife (they have long-time hostile relations, so it’s very difficult for her to be a completely objective witness) and the explanations of the policeman who, if you use the logic of the investigator, is an interested party?

But what does Pavel Kaminski himself say about all this?

There are no witnesses to Pavel Kaminskyi’s unlawful behavior, which the police reports. As there are no witnesses to their atrocities. It seems, therefore they decided to put into cold storage the feat of the brave local policeman. But it was not to be!

The story received publicity thanks to Siarhei Piatrukhin, who highlighted the police lawlessness against the Brest resident.

The blogger has always been interested in the facts of the police lawlessness, and he, of course, had a dig at the story. And the fact is that earlier, the police officers Ihnatsiuk and Yakushevich had detained Siarhei Piatrukhin near his house, and has put an armlock on him as well, and at the trial they had unanimously said that he had been drunk and was walking unsteadily... well, they slandered him.

“At the trial, I approached them and said something like that: here’s Siarhei Ihnatsiuk, who beats up Brest residents, remember him... and be careful, he is dangerous. It was he who beat up Pavel Kaminski. For this episode, I am charged with slander. But what kind of slander is there?” – Siarhei Piatrukhin says.

Not everything that is known to human rights defenders is set forth in this story of police arbitrariness – something left behind the scenes and will be used to defend blogger Siarhei Piatrukhin in court.

Beating a detainee by a police officer is an official crime

Excess of authority or official authority is the intentional commission by an official of actions that clearly go beyond the rights and powers granted to him in the service, causing damage on a large scale or substantial harm to the rights and legitimate interests of citizens, or to state or public interests.

If an official deliberately commits actions that clearly go beyond the rights and powers granted to him in the service, and it is accompanied by violence, torture or insult of the victim, he is punished with imprisonment of three to ten years with confiscation of property or without confiscation and deprivation of the right to occupy certain positions or engage in certain activities.