No punishment for a broken arm

Yan Lahvinovich, who brutally beaten by police on the Square, filed a complaint to a prosecutor’s office in January asking to open a criminal case over his beating.

After another request to the law-enforcement agencies in May, he learned that a criminal case had not been opened, Viasna Human Rights Centre reports.

On December 19, policemen broke an arm and injured head of activist Yan Lahvinovich from Maladzechna, who did not show any disobedience to police. The recovery took almost four months. In January, Yan filed a complaint to the prosecutor’s office of the Maskouski district of Minsk asking to conduct an investigation and initiate a criminal case over tortures and cruel treatment.

According to Yan, he had an impression during several months that someone worked on this matter: he was summoned to give evidence, his medical record was taken from a policlinic (and did not returned until the end of a course of treatment). Prosecutor’s office did not say what investigative actions were carried out and if a criminal case was opened. Having received no reply, Yan filed a complained to prosecutor’s office in Minsk.

He received an answer saying that his appeal to open a criminal case was denied.