Brest activist detained thrice on June 11

The civil society activist was detained three times in the evening of June 11 by the same police brigade. The police patrol was ordered to charge him with disorderly conducted. However, the policemen refused to fabricate the charges on order of their brass.

“Yesterday I had a walk with a friend. We were standing and talking. About 10 p.m. we were approached by a police car. The policemen said that somebody allegedly complained that we were drinking beer. They talked as if someone from their brass had been driving by, noticed us and ordered to detain us. They didn't know what for to detain us and let us go.

The situation repeated in half an hour near my house. The same policemen received a telephone call, telling that I needed to be detained and taken to the police station. As I learned from an informal talk, somebody watched me and they were ordered to detain me.

At the police station the policemen were being forced to charge me with disorderly misconduct, but they refused. I was driven to a drug therapist, because I was allegedly drunk. But the testing failed. I was released, but 15 minutes later on the way home (I was driving a car) I was overtaken and told that I was to be taken to the local police inspector for drawing up a violation report. This was the third time already!

Everything ended happily, as the policemen were honest ones and refused to draw up a false reports", said Andrei Sharenda. The activist believes the detentions are related to the forthcoming «presidential elections». «Now they are trying to make some «clear-up» in the regions, first of all it concerns journalists and civil society activists, who face threats and provocations,» explained the activist.