Minsk police looking of assailant on member of electoral team of Yaraslau Ramanchuk

Several days ago two unidentified persons assaulted the member of the electoral team Uladzimir Zvernik and tried to seize from him the lists with signatures in support of Mr. Ramanchuk. The incident took place near the Western supermarket in the Sukharava suburb, where the activist held an electoral picket. Mr. Zvernik managed to save the signature lists thanks to the assistance of passers-by. However, the assailants seized his certificate of member of the electoral team.

According to Uladzimir, policemen of the Maskouski District Police Department asked him to testify about the incident, saying they found about it from the Internet. ‘I told them that I wasn’t going to apply to the police because I considered it senseless,’ says the activist. ‘I thought that the police would hardly deal with this case.’ Mr. Zvernik is sure that these people weren’t simple hooligans. ‘They were dressed alike and their clothes reminded of a uniform. They wore black coats and knitted black caps (though it was quite warm). After the assault it came to me that may be it was the kind of caps that are easily transformed into head masks,’ said the activist.

He also stated he was going to apply to the Central Election Commission with the request to issue him with another certificate instead of the one that had been taken away by the assailants. However, he found the old one in a garbage pile round the corner of the supermarket when he occasionally came there several days after the incident.

Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections