Biaroza: administrative case against beaten woman is dropped
On 13 September the Biaroza District Court finished
the consideration of the administrative case against Halina Kavalevich, Chair
of the Biaroza district unit of the Conservative-Christian Party Belarusian
Popular Front.
On 13 July the woman had been sitting on a bench in the center of Biaroza.
Police officer Yakau Samasiuk came towards her and asked to show her documents.
He was dissatisfied with her pensioner ID. As a result, the woman was pulled
into a paddy wagon, where she was beaten by the police. The woman registered
the beating at the forensic expertise: she had 21 bruises and an injured leg.
Despite this, the police charged her with “insubordination to lawful demands of
police officers”. The case was passed to the court. Having listened to the
driver of the paddy wagon, Aliaksandr Papko, and police guard Aliaksandr
Mikalayevich, who had beaten the woman, the judge found her guilty, but ruled
to drop the case because of the woman's age and the insignificance of her
“violation”.
Now the woman intends to apply to Chair of the Biaroza District Police
Department concerning the non-professional and unethical actions of his
subordinates during her detention, which resulted in inflicting harm to her
health.