Prosecutor's Office opens investigation into police raid violence

Dzmitry Serada, a pediatrician whose apartment was violently raided by the police on August 4, has received a copy of the decision by the Prosecutor's Office of Minsk saying that it opened a criminal case against one of the policemen who beat him during the raid. The decision was taken after Serada sent a complaint about abuse of authority by police officers. The complaint was prepared by the lawyers of the Human Rights Center "Viasna".

Earlier, the Investigative Committee twice refused to initiate criminal proceedings against the riot policemen.

The preliminary investigation will be conducted by the Investigative Committee’s Minsk office.

However, Dzmitry Serada is not too optimistic. “I wonder what kind of investigation the Investigative Committee will conduct after it twice refused to open a criminal case?” said his in his Facebook account.

On August 4, Serada’s apartment was raided by masked men who broke the glass balcony doors in the kitchen. The man was pushed with his face to the floor, his arms were twisted and handcuffed.

He was then taken to the police department and beaten in the police bus. Dzmitry was later brought to the Investigation Committee for questioning. He was suspected of committing a non-violent crime. However, the man was left in custody for the night and then held a whole day in the police department. During this time, Dzmitry Serada was never served any meals. He was only released on August 5. After that Dzmitry Serada was diagnosed with mild concussion and contusion of the front abdomen. His daughter had to undergo a medical examination at a psychiatric clinic where the psychologists found that the girl was under stress.