Human rights defender Raman Kisliak petitions Prosecutor General

Lawyer and human rights activist Raman Kisliak urges Prosecutor General to investigate the activities of police in Vitsebsk region, after Kanstantsin Smolikau and Leanid Autukhou were detained awaiting trial for more than 48 hours.

Kanstantsin Smolikau and Leanid Autukhou were detained on 22 March in Vistebsk for distributing invitations to the Freedom Day rally. They were held in custody for more than 48 hours, which, in turn, was a violation of the Procedural Executive Code of Administrative Offences, namely Par. 2 of Article 11.2, which states: “The case of an administrative offense, the commission of which results in administrative arrest or deportation, shall be considered on the day of receipt of the report on the administrative offense and other materials of the case, but no later than forty-eight hours after the administrative detention, provided the detention was committed and the identity of the detainee was established.”

On March 24, the human rights defender wrote a letter about the incident to the head of Kastrychnitski police department, as well as to the police department of Vitsebsk regional executive committee and the Minister of Internal Affairs, but the detainees were not released from custody. They were held in detention center until March 25.

On March 25, Kanstantsin Smolikau and Leanid Autukhou were found guilty of violating the order of organizing and holding mass events and punished by Judge Ina Hrabouskaya with 5 days of administrative arrest each.