Communist secretary and BRSM ‘specialist’ Tsiukhai organizes provocation at political trial

RFE/RL found out the name of a person who took students of Belarusian Agricultural Technical University to the trial over the political prisoner and insulted Alexander Barazenka’s mother.

It was found out he is Uladzimir Tsiukhai, secretary of Minsk committee of the pro-governmental Communists Party of Belarus and main specialist of BRSM pro-president youth organization of Tsentralny district of Minsk.

This man took about 30 students to Tsentralny district court, so that human rights defenders and opposition activists couldn’t enter the courtroom.

Tsiukhai obviously fulfilled an order of the authorities. It was him who insulted and hit mother of the defendant accused Alexander Barazenka. When leaving the courtroom, Alena Barazenka asked Tsiukhai if he had conscience. He pushed the elderly woman at her shoulders in response. She fell on her husband’s arms. As people were indignant, Tsiukhai went to the policemen to complain, but they refused to interfere. Then the man began to threaten journalists and called mother of the political prisoner a ‘beast’.

He snatched a photo camera from hand of Aleh Hrusdzilovich, RFE/RL correspondent, and tried to hinder work of media. ‘We need to take away his camera and delete the footage. If it appears on the Internet, it will cause a great scandal!’ the teacher explained to a policeman.