On 15 April the Lithuanian cinema festival "Inconvenient Cinema" and the Belarusian Human Rights House invite all interested persons to the opening view of a documentary about tortures and cases of cruel and inhumane treatment of citizens by law-enforcement officers, and the following discussion with the film producer and its heroes.
As previously reported, on 21 April 2012 Slonim police detained local activist of the Belarusian Christian Democracy Party Volha Pansevich. During arrest, she was badly beaten and then forced into a car and taken to the police station, where she was charged with two administrative violations – disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. The activist was held in the detention center for three days, where police officers reportedly tortured her, beating the woman and using the so-called “lastochka” (“swallow”), the Human rights activists against torture campaign reports.
The International Day Against Police Brutality is celebrated worldwide on 15 March, but not in Belarus. It is not common to speak about police brutality. According to political prisoner Pavel Seviarynets, co-chairman of the Belarusian Christian Democracy, we have as a commonplace, rather than the exception.
A criminal case under Article 426, part 2 (abuse of authority or duty powers, committed by an official holding a responsible position, or which ensued grave consequences, or deliberate commitment by a duty official of actions which evidently exceed the rights and powers, given to them at service, accompanied with violence, suffering or insult of the victim, or the use of arms and police gear."
The private cultural and educational institution “Platforma Innovation” addressed President Aliaksandr Lukashenka with an open letter, demanding an unbiased and fair investigation into the case of alleged beating a guard of a Minsk-based parking lot Vasil Sarochyk by policemen, the BelaPAN news agency reports.
Such suspicion arises from the repeated non-admission of the counsel to the pre-trial prison of the KGB, where the Navapolatsk democratic activist Andrei Haidukou is currently kept. Human rights defenders submitted an appropriate complaint to the UN Special Rapporteur on this occasion.
The Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus did not satisfy the appeal of a BCD activist Volha Pansevich against the fine of 2.5 million rubles, to which she had been sentenced on 12 June 2012 by the judge of the Slonim District Court Ivan Lastouski for alleged “insubordination to police” and “use of obscene language in public”.
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