Ihar Ptichkin was beaten by riot control group

Some details about the death of a Valadarka prison inmate became known.

Minsk resident Ihar Ptichkin, 21, died under unknown circumstances in detention facility No. 1 in Valadarski Street. September 12 was the 40th day after his death. A heart attack was named as the official cause of the death. But Ptichkin's relatives and friends think he died after a brutal beating in the detention facility. The Investigation Committee told his family about an inquiry into his death, BelaPAN reports.

Relatives and friends of Ptichkin were going to have a moment of silence near the prison, lay flowers and light candles on September 14. They were detained by the police.

Aliaksandr Haurysh, Ihar Ptichkin's school friend, was detained and fined 500,000 rubles by the Tsentralny district court. That's how he describe his friend:

“Ihar was a well-balanced communicative person. He was a heavily built man – he went to evening school after the ninth grade and worked at a tractor plant. Inmates couldn't have beaten him (one of the versions was a conflict with other inmates). He was charged with a traffic offence. He had a driving ban, but he was born to drive, he couldn't resist it.

He was a friendly adequate person without psychological problems. I think he knew how to behave in prison. He couldn't have provoked conflicts. His term was only three months.”

What does Andrei Bandarenka, the head of Platform Innovation human rights organisation, think about Ihar Ptichkin's tragedy? Bandarenka used to be an inmate of detention facility No. 1

“I didn't see such situations,” the human rights defender says. “It was a big surprise that the killing took place in the Valadarka prison, because relations between the prison staff and inmates are usually normal there.

As we have learnt from sources close to the authorities of detention facility No. 1, Ihar was beaten by the so called reserve team – a special riot control group. Ihar felt bad and tried to call a doctor, but he was denied a visit. His inmates supported him. We can say that it was a small riot in the cell. A special group was called... Ihar was taken out of the cell. They continued to beat him in the corridor. Perhaps it caused his death.”