Echoes of story in Pinsk market: vendors punished, policemen get away

The police officers who brutally performed on July 7 the "cleansing" of street vendors near the mini market Zakhodni in Pinsk were acting in accordance with the law, but were "tactically illiterate."

These conclusions were presented by the chiefs of Pinsk police department following an official investigation into an incident that attracted much attention after a video footage of the detention was posted online. The police authorities argue that the police inspector who led the “operation” had repeatedly appealed to the citizens with the requirement not to violate trade rules, but they ignored the demands, refused to follow the policemen to a car and tried to flee. This, according to the police chiefs, made the police lieutenant use force. However, the actions of the police officer were named "tactically illiterate", as the detention occurred in front of a large flow of people, that "led to the creation of long-term conflict and attracted the attention of other people who did not have objective information about what had happened."

Thus, the police officers who participated in the "operation" in the mini market Zakhodni, in fact, were not punished, despite the fact that the head of the police department of Brest Regional Executive Committee Ivan Sauchyts previously apologized "for the unprofessional actions of the police."

Meanwhile, two marketeers and a man who attempted to protect them in the conflict with the police received fines between 100,000 and two million rubles.

As for the probe launched by the Investigative Committee to address allegations of abuse of power by the Pinsk police department employees, it has already lasted for one and a half months and has not yet been completed.