Police take BMW over Stop-Tax protest

Minsk resident Dzmitry Pryharau, who appealed for help to the HRC "Viasna", says that on December 20 policemen took his BMW is an absolutely illegal manner – without any explanations and drafting the necessary documents.

Dzmitry Pryharau participated in the campaign "Stop Tax" and was driving along Minsk’s Independence Avenue with a flyer “No More Rip-off!” pasted on his car.

“I was stopped by traffic police. I was immediately fined for using a honk, i.e. they had been already reported about this on the radio. Nobody cared about the question how my honk was found in a continuous buzz.”

Dzmitry notes that none of the two police officers who were with him in the traffic police car gave their names or shown any documents. After the fine was issued, he was asked to open the hood of his car.

“He really did not even look there and said that the car was going to be sent to a parking lot of Tsentralny district police station. He said the body number was rigged.”

On the way to the police station Dzmitry Pryharau once again asked the policeman to show his ID. However, his request was not answered.

The young man said that then there appeared a criminologist to inspect the vehicle, who, according to his own words, had no right to be an expert. Still, he looked at the BMW and took ​​a few photos. But the car was not returned to the owner.

“Then there appeared the policeman who fined me. It looks like he was the boss there, because he was giving commands. He told me to give the car keys and the registration certificate. I refused to give the keys, saying there was no reason. I told him that in this situation I had to be sent for examination and I had to drive home myself...”

The policeman said the car would be taken anyway.

“I gave him the keys. Then they photographed the car for a long time, wrote the report of inspection. The car was sealed. But I was not given a copy of any record of detention, nor a copy of the inspection. They only told me to come on Monday.”

As a result, on December 23 Dzmitry Pryharau came to Tsentralny district police station to learn that his car would be held there for a month.

On December 24 the young man sent a complaint against the policemen to head of the Department of Internal Affairs of Minsk’s Tsentralny district.