Police investigating cases of activists and journalist beat up in court

Minsk police have commented on the incident, which occurred on January 25 in the Frunze district court. Activists Pavel Syarhei and Maxim Shitsik who staged a protest at the trial of the "graffiti case" and the journalist of the portal tut.by Pavel Dabravolsky, who videotaped their arrest were detained. Later they said that they were beaten by riot policemen in plainclothes, some later testified in court. All three (Syarhei, Shitsik and Dabravolski) were fined a sum of about 9-10 million rubles.

On Tuesday, the Department of Information and Public Relations of the Internal Affairs Ministry of Minsk Executive Committee informed that "Dabravolski was detained, because he illegally entered the office [of the court], where the violators of law and order were kept, thus interfering with legitimate actions of police officers, he also disregarded their remarks to cease the illegal actions." It is noted that physical force by police against the activists and journalist was used in accordance with the law "On the internal affairs' bodies" to suppress illegal activities." The use of the force by police department will be investigated.

Meanwhile, Dabravolski said that he filed a statement with the police about the beating by riot police on January 25 in the Frunze district court building, he's going to have battery-induced injuries verified and will go to court. "In a civilized society, law enforcement agencies have no right to beat people," he said.