Belarusian police refuses to investigate abductions of oppositionists

• 9.03.2010, 9:59

A criminal case opened for abduction of the chairman of the Young Front Zmitser Dashkevich has been dismissed.

The criminal case in which Zmitser Dashkevich is a complainant, has been suspended under Article 246 Part 1 of the Criminal Code of Belarus, reads the letter received by the oppositionist and signed by the senior interrogating officer of Zavadski police department of Minsk A. M. Zhabinski.

However, as noted by the press-service of the Young Front, it was stated I the answer: “The complex of investigatory activities aimed at detecting persons who had committed the crime, and search for the stolen property continues.”

“There were no hopes that under the current regime this criminal case would have a different result,” said the chairman of the Young Front Zmitser Dashkevich commenting on the answer from the police.

We remind that on December 5 at 11 a.m. near his flat the oppositionist was encircled by several people in mufti, his hands were wrung, and he was taken out and pushed into a car. Personal things of Dashkevich were seized, two hats pulled on his head. He was driven in the car for several hours, and after that left in a wood near Lahojsk.

In December 2009 several Belarusian opposition leaders were abducted. One of the leaders of “European Belarus” civil campaign Yauhen Afnagel was abducted by the unknown on December 6. As said by the young activist, 4 persons in mufti seized him in Belinski Street in Minsk, forced into a white car with tinted glasses and taken out side the city. As said by the activist of “European Belarus”, the abductors said almost nothing. His head was pressed to his knees, and then he was thrown out of the car at some country road in several kilometres from Barysau highway.