Minsk police: violence was used towards picketers, not towards photographer Hryts

The photo correspondent for Associated Press Siarhei Hryts was denied in bringing a criminal case on the fact of the beating.

The Frunzenski District Police Department answered that Artsybashau, Kurlovich, Vinahradau and Viniatski had been detained on 18 September for violation of the procedure of holding mass events. Seven more people who had photo and video cameras were detained too.

“It was impossible to find the circumstances of receiving the bodily injuries by Hryts as a result of the check-up which was held on this fact, as nobody had used any physical violence or police gear towards him. It also seems impossible to find the circumstances of the deletion of information from the “video camera” of the Associate Press photo correspondent (though the word video camera stands in the police answer, in reality Mr. Hryts had a photo camera), as far as the police officers didn't seize it. Correspondingly, there is no corpus delicti”. Thus, the police refused to look for the man who smashed the photographer's face.

Bear in mind that a cameraman Aliaksandr Barazenka, the photo correspondents Siarhei Hryts (Associated Press), Vasil Fiadosenka (Reuters), Tatsiana Ziankovich (EPA) and Pavel Padabed (BelaPAN) were detained at a picket held by the youth wing of the civil campaign “Tell the Truth!”, “Zmena” (“Change”), near the “Frunzenski” supermarket on 18 September. The picketers intended to hold a symbolic distribution of borsch.