Traffic police offer no personal apology to car chase accident

A prosecutor's office has opened a probe into the circumstances of the March 2 road accident near Minsk when traffic police officers used a "human shield" of private cars with people inside to make a drunk overspeeding driver stop. The victims, 6 people including a 3-year-old child, filed a request for a criminal case. The criminal case today was opened, lawyer Vera Stramkouskaya told the European Radio for Belarus:

"The Minsk Region Prosecutor's Office is carrying out an investigation. All the victims today were questioned and identified as victims... We are now in the process of claculating the damages, both moral and material. We will file an additional motion in this regard. We also expect to go to the accident scene to verify all the circumstances oulined in the complaint".

According to Vera Stramkouskaya, the traffic police chiefs have not met personally with these people in order to apologize:

"The chief of traffic police yesterday apologized through the mass media. But when I asked him why he did not invite the victims in order to apologize, he would not respond...".