Mahiliou: trial concerning cruel treatment of activist of ‘Speak Truth’

On 5 July, the Leninski District Court of Mahiliou started considering the complaint of Aksana Samuilava, a volunteer of the Speak Truth civil campaign, who accused the chief guard of the Mahilou factory Liftmash of infliction of bodily injuries to her.

The first hearings on the case took place on 6 July. The reason for the trial was Aksana’s detention by the factory guards on 19 May. This day she and Kanstantsin Tyrtychny, an activist of the Belarusian Christian Democracy, were handing out the Svobodnye Novosti Plus newspaper near the plant. The newspaper contained information about A Hundred Faces of Redundancy, a project of the civil campaign Speak Truth.

Samuilava says that two guards assaulted her, forcedly pulled into the building of the factory administration and kept her there for more than an hour before passing her to the police. Having registered the beating, the activist applied to court.

The judge questioned the defendant and four witnesses from his side.

Aksana Samuilava said: ‘His surname is Shulau. He was the most active one and gave orders to his people. He stated to the court that I beat him because he took the newspapers away from me. I allegedly ran after him to take the newspaper back and hit him on the back with my fists, as a result of which he had scratches on the dorsum. He registered the beating – he had some scratches and a bruise. However, none of his witnesses confirmed that I had beaten him.’