"When they looked at my ID, the beating became softer." Survivor stories

The Human Rights Center "Viasna” and the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) launched a campaign to document cases of torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of protesters on August 9-13. Some testimonies of people who survived torture and violence will be published on our website as evidence of crimes committed by security forces.

Piotr Kiryk

Minsk resident Piotr Kiryk was detained at about midnight on August 12 when he was getting off a bus with a friend (between Malinaŭka and Piatroŭščyna metro stations). The boy was 16 years old (17 at the moment), but this did not stop the riot police from using force against him.

"Two masked plain-clothed men approached us," says Piotr Kiryk. "They told us to come up. I took a step in their direction, and they grabbed me by the hand. Scared, I pulled out my hand and ran a hundred meters away. But one of them said: 'Stop, otherwise, I'm going to shoot!’ I stopped. He ran up, twisted my arms behind my back and led me in the direction of a blue minivan parked in the yard. I was kneeled, they hit me a few times with a baton and threw me on the ground. I was sitting on the ground, I was hit several times with a baton on many parts of my body: the back, legs, and hips. Then I was put face to the side of the minivan and searched. They took out a cell phone and demanded the screen lock password. I said that I had forgotten it. After that, they hit me with the baton on the arm.”

Piotr was asked for the password several times. After each refusal to give it, the boy was beaten with a baton.

Then Piotr was grabbed by his hair and put into the van on his knees. His head was pressed to the glass, and his hands were tied with plastic ties behind his back. The officers insulted him all the time:

"They called us animals, cattle, Maidan-fanatics... They flashed a torch into my face and told that we were drug addicts and would get a long sentence. He said that our pupils were wide and then narrow, it meant we were drug addicts. In the van, they beat me on buttocks, legs, and back with a baton.

Piotr remembers that the officers were talking to each other: "Turn off your flashlight, close the curtains, or we will be seen from [the neighboring] house."

The guy immediately told the police that he was 16 years old, but they answered: "You shouldn't walk around so late at this age.” Finally, in the van, he was asked for an ID.

"When they looked at my ID, the beating became softer – only on my buttocks and legs. Then – only on the buttocks, while the rest were beaten all over the body, as they were adults.”

From permanent seating on the minivan floor, Piotr had cramps on both legs. He asked the police officers if he could change the position. That was refused: "You move – and we will beat you up."

After a while, the police van arrived and all detainees were ordered to stand up.

"I couldn't stand up, my legs were swollen," Piotr continues his story. "But I was hit with a baton, they told me to get up faster. I was handed over to a strong riot policeman in black uniform. He led me to the police van. They hit me five times precisely on an inner part of the leg."

Piotr and other detainees were taken to the Maskouski district police department.

"They talked to each other and agreed to bring us to the most aggressive people. They took us to the 4th floor, to the assembly hall. There were some law-enforcement officers. As far as I understand, it was the police, riot policemen. They talked to each other, joked, and beat those lying on the ground with batons. I was also ordered to lie on the floor with my legs crossed. We lay like this for forty minutes."

After that Piotr was taken to another room. Inside were presumably people from the police department staff. They asked Piotr who he was, where his parents worked; the answers were filmed.

Piotr only learned that he was in the Maskouski police department when he was handed over to his parents.

Piotr Kiryk with his mother Marharyta

Piotr's mother Marharyta Kiryk said that she had received a call from an unknown woman who told her where she should pick up her son. Having arrived at the Maskouski police department, Marharyta waited for about two and a half hours until some officer came out. Margarita could not identify him because it was very dark.

"He said that Piotr looked like an adult. He promised that next time (if he is detained) he would get the works," Marharyta recalls.

Piotr left the police department at about 3.30 on August 13.

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