Belarusian police: smothering people to prevent epileptic attack

The Pershamaiski District Procuracy of Minsk refused to to initiate a criminal investigation into the beating of a pensioner, Uladzimir Marozau, by police officers on 6 July.

The decision of the prosecutor's office, which has been recently received by the applicant, informs that on 6 July, while patrolling the surroundings of the National Library, where an unauthorized mass event was to take place, the deputy chief of the Pershamaiski District Police Department of Minsk V. Shafikau and police inspector P.Sadau notice that a man who was sitting on a bench started falling down on the pavement. They reacted immediately and wanted to prevent him from falling, for which they grabbed him by the hands. Then the police fiction writers cynically describe that they were unable to prevent him from falling and unsuccessfully tried to raise him after he fell on the ground.
 
According to the police, there followed a rapid development of events: Marozau started actively waving his arms and legs, while maintaining silence, which they took for signs of an epileptic attack. In order to prevent him from injuring himself, they piled on top of the pensioner and kept him some time in the supine position. Police officers state they hadn't delivered any blows and hadn't used physical violence towards the pensioner.


The photo shows clearly how a police officer "saves" Marozau by pressing the man's throat with his knee.

In many videos that are distributed on the Internet, it can be clearly seen and heard that the victim was screaming and moaning from pain, and demanded to put an end to violence to his person. There were large bruises on his hands resulting from the painful holds used by the police. However, the Pershamaiski District Procuracy of Minsk seems to have paid no interest to this video and numerous photos, because they didn't need the truth. This is also confirmed by the hypocritical statement of A.Sadouski, senior assistant prosecutor of the Pershamaiski district, who writes that it was not possible to question Marozau about the incident. In fact, the victim phoned to the assistant prosecutor several times in order to give the appropriate testimony.

Moreover, the procuracy charged the administration of the Pershamaiski District Police Department with holding a check-up on the assault on the pensioner. Thus, the check-up was to be held by those who violated the law.
 
Earlier, commenting on the situation with Marozau, lawyer of the HRC "Viasna" Valiantsin Stefanovich referred to Article 9 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus "On Appeals of Citizens", according to which "it is prohibited to transfer citizens' complaints to government bodies and other organizations whose actions (inaction) are appealed" . The law mentions only one exception – if the issue belongs to the exclusive jurisdiction of the body. Human rights activist believes that by forwarding the complaint of Uladzimir Marozau to the Pershamaiski District Police Department the Pershamaiski District Procuracy committed a gross and outrageous violation of the applicant's rights.