Victim of violence still seeking prosecution of police officer
Sviatlana
Viarheichyk was detained during a silent protest in 2011. She
was then charged with alleged disorderly conduct. The
lady was taken to Minsk Partyzanski District Police Department, where she was reportedly
beaten by the department’s then-deputy chief A. Pazniak.
After the
incident, Sviatlana Viarheichyk had to undergo treatment in hospital. However,
despite medical records and the fact that the charges against her were eventually
dropped, the woman has been trying to get the policeman prosecuted for nearly two
years already.
Her
first complaint was filed on July 15, 2011 – 11 days after the detention. A
month later, the Prosecutor's Office of Minsk Kastrychnitski district ruled to terminate
the criminal case for lack of evidence in the actions of the law enforcement
authority.
However,
as a result of a later investigation and examining a video footage taken at the
police department, it was established that deputy chief A. Pazniak used physical
force against Sviatlana Viarheichyk and thus violated Par. 1. and 2
Art. 26, 27 of the Law “On the Internal Affairs Bodies of the Republic of
Belarus”. It
was also found that during the detention Pazniak did not present his ID, and was
wearing civilian clothes. Moreover,
the use of force was not recorded in a special register, as required by the law.
On
February 2, 2012, Sviatlana Viarheichyk submitted an appeal against the denial to
the Investigative Committee of Kastrychnitski district for further investigation.
Meanwhile,
policeman A. Pazniak was
promoted to the district police chief of the Investigation Committee.
After
investigating the appeal, Senior Investigator Pudau ordered to
deny prosecution. Moreover,
the decision was approved by the Investigation Committee’s district police
chief, that is, the very policeman Pazniak, whose actions were contested. The order was signed
by Pazniak.
Since
the actions of investigator Pudau violate Par. 2. Art.
140 of the Code for Criminal Procedures (it is prohibited to delegate the consideration
of complaints to the authority, whose actions are appealed or who approved the
decision), the decision was reversed and the case file was sent to Partyzanski district
department of the Investigation Committee. However, a decision issued by
senior investigator Liashuk was the same as those by his colleagues – to deny
prosecution.
But
the decision was not final – as it turned out, investigator Liashuk failed to
investigate all the circumstances of the case; therefore, the chief of
procedural control section of the Investigative Committee’s Minsk Department Klishevich
overturned the decision and sent the case file back to the IC’s district department
for an additional check-up. However,
after during all further checks investigator Liashuk failed to fulfill all the instructions,
namely he did not question all the witnesses who were detained in July 2011
along with Sviatlana Viarheichyk.
Some
clarifications in responses issued by police officers deserve special
attention. For example, the
chief of Minsk’s Kastrychnitski police department Biassmertny said: “On 06.07.2011,
A. Pazniak executed the task of protecting public interests from other unlawful
acts, and in the absence in the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On the Bodies
of Internal Affairs” a clear definition of “physical force”,
Pazniak’s actions against Viarheichyk should not be considered as the application
of physical force, but as the use of physical pressure” (response of 16
September, 2011).
Mrs.
Viarheichyk says she is preparing another complaint – to the Prosecutor of
Partyzanski District of Minsk.