Entrepreneurs Leader Stays in Prison

• 7.03.2008, 15:08

The leader of Vitsebsk individual entrepreneurs Syarhei Parsyukevich is to stay in the remand prison in Valadarski Street, Minsk. The decision to uphold the measure of restraint, arrest, has been taken by the prosecutor’s office of Maskouski district of Minsk.

As we have informed, Syarhei Parsyukevich was detained for 3 days on March 4 in the building of the prosecutor’s office of Maskouski district. He came there of free will to give evidence in the criminal case initiated against him for attacking a policeman.

Earlier Syarhei Parsyukevich was detained for participation in an unsanctioned protest rally of market vendors in Minsk and sentenced to 15 days of arrest. While serving the sentence he was brutally beaten up by one of the workers of the prison in Akrestsin Street, who later charged the arrested with an assault.

He was beaten brutally by an officer of the detention center on 21 January. “If I hadn’t broken loose and cried for help, they would have killed me,” former police major Parsyukevich said to the Charter’97 press center.

The chairman of the Council of individual entrepreneurs of “Smalenski” market in Vitsebsk Syarhei Parsyukevich is a retired police major. He retired in 2004 in the position of the head of judicial and criminalistic department. After that he started his business activities.

As we have informed, political prisoners are still kept in Belarusian prisons. They are a former presidential candidate in Belarus Alyaksandr Kazulin and a youth leader Andrei Kim.