Navapolatsk: 6-year-old boy detained together with his father
On 13 July in the evening Aliaksandr Hrudnitski walked
with his six-year-old son Yauhen in the park near the square where participants
of the silent protest action gathered. After the end of the action, when the
people started going away, the police started seizing some of them. Aliaksandr
noticed it and wanted to come to their defense. As a result, he was pushed into
a paddy wagon and taken to the Polatsk District Police Department together with
his son.
“As I understood, when they seized my husband, the son started crying. That's
why the husband started breaking loose from their grip. The policemen possibly
took it for resistance. As a result, the child was crammed into the car
together with him,” tells Ala Hrudnitskaya.
The police “allowed” her to come and take the son away, but gave her only 15
minutes for it, threatening to take him to an orphanage otherwise. The woman
was at home with one-year-old daughter, and had to find somewhere to look after
the child during her absence. She also had to find a car to come to the DPD.
She received three telephone calls from them on the way – the police told her
to hurry up.