Results of Uladzimir Hrydzin’s complaints against unlawful actions of police

Officers of the Pershamaiski district police department of Minsk partially confessed the violations towards the journalist Uladzimir Hrydzin on 29 September, whereas the Pershamaiski district guard department of MIA states that its officers didn’t violate any legal norms by their actions.

It follows from the letters Uladzimir received to his complaints to the abovementioned institutions. The journalist asked to punish the policemen for detaining him while he was performing his professional duties, forcedly fingerprinting and mugging him.

The administration of the Pershamaiski district police department confirmed that the local police officer Pankratovich had violated the order of holding the voluntary dactylographic registration and the instruction on criminal record. ‘For these violations the officer … was severely warned and will be disciplined if such violations repeat,’ reads the letter. According to the police, all pictures of Hrydzin were erased from the archive. At the same time, the facts of violation of the norms of administrative detention ‘weren’t confirmed’.

At the same time, the Pershamaiski district guard department of MIA decided that its officers Dziashkevich and Hrynevich guarded U.Hrydzin to the police department ‘in conformity with the active legislation of the Republic of Belarus’.

Bear in mind that the staff correspondent of Radio Liberty Uladzimir Hrydzin was detained in Minsk in the evening of 29 October when he intended to take photos of the white-red-white flags that were hanged out by activists of European Belarus in Nezalezhnastsi Avenue in Minsk. When he went out of his car, the policemen ran up to him, twisted his arms and forcedly took him in their car. They didn’t react to his journalist badge. On the way to the Pershamaiski district police department they threatened him and hit him on the back of the head.

At the police department they took away his photo camera, hit him across the torso several times and left several scratches on the equipment. Besides, they examined all his belongings, took fingerprints and made photo and video shots of him. All this was done without composing any reports. The journalist was kept at the police department for more then three hours. Then the policemen returned to him the equipment and let go.

On 29 October the police also detained the photo journalist Yuliya Darashkevich. She was also kept at the police for three hours, but wasn’t fingerprinted, photographed or videoed as she immediately stated about the unlawfulness of such actions and demanded that the police drew up the detention report.