Anatol Lyabedzka: Riot militia beat Belarusians, who struggle for European values
- 19.10.2009, 11:41
The leader of the United Civil Party was beaten until he was bleeding during dispersal of the rally on October 16.
The politician was released from the militia department only after three hours. He told in an interview to www.charter97.org about the detention:
“It was brutal and fast. When I came to the square and took a portrait, I was shoved. When riot militiamen attacked the demonstrators, I and other participants of the rally sat down on the ground. We were beaten. Then we were thrown into a bus, where beating continued. A riot militiaman grabbed from behind around my neck, another one was holding my arms, and the third was beating at my face. My nose was bleeding. They injured my finger of the hand, I have some bruises on my legs.
Traditionally, we were forced to stand facing a wall with our hands up in the militia department. Then Hryshchanka, the deputy head of the Tsentralny district militia department, appeared. He behaved in a rude way, insulted the youth. I tied to defend them, but in response, I was caught and dragged to a separate room on the order of Hryshchanka. Then a grassroots rebel almost started – the detained activists run to the door demanding to release me. Militiamen were scared.
I was pushed to small scruffy room, where detained homeless people are kept. Hryshchanka shouted he would “eliminate and crush” me. He probably didn’t have more power than leaving me in that hellhole for three hours,” Anatol Lyabedzka said.
The UCP leader believes the European Union should react immediately to harsh suppressing of peaceful rallies in Minsk.
“The European Union should remember that it is based on freedom, democracy, and human rights. The Belarusians, beaten at peaceful rallies and thrown into prisons, struggle for European values. If the EU doesn’t react to the events in Belarus, to dispersal of peaceful rallies, to the fact that riot militia behaved like armed gangs in the country and journalists are not allowed to work, it will mean that the European Union departs from the principles it is based on.
I am concerned about the statement of EP President Jerzy Buzek. If the EU adopts a strategy defining sovereignty of Belarus as the main thing, and democracy as a secondary thing, it will be bad for us. This will be a blank cheque for Lukashenka for further repressions,” Anatol Lyabedzka is sure.