“Swelling of posterior hip’s upper part”
- 29.04.2011, 18:22
Where had the commander of Belarusian special task force been wounded?
The trial over the oppositionists in Minsk looks more and more like a farce. Not a single direct proof of the young activists and the presidential candidate Andrei Sannikov’s guilt in unrest has been received, “Moskovskiy Komsomolets” writes.
29 riot policemen have been recognized persons injured during the events of December 19. For some reason most of the “beaten” riot policemen took a leave since April 26. Their stories – similar like carbon copies – were just read out in the court: I was on duty, I arrived to the square, took part in the dispersal, received a blow from an unknown on a knee or on a shin-bone, and then sought medical attention. No one charged Andrei Sannikov personally or other defendants with acts of violence.
However, an interesting testimony was received proving that the unrest after the presidential election was a provocation of special services. The defendants asked the injured riot policeman Dzmitry Skarakhod: “Why didn’t you detain the people who were breaking windows in the House of Government?” He let out: “A certain tactics exists. It was done because it was the right way to do it.” And notably, the defendant Uladzimir Khomchanka, who is considered to be an agent provocateur with a nickname Earphone, is to be questioned personally, without any witnesses. Experts who had examined him psychiatrically and psychologically, also asked not to reveal the results. This suggests that the suspicions of Lukashenka’s opponents are not groundless.
The comic testimony of Syarhei Lushchyk, a special task force squadron’s commander, deserves a specific mention. As said by him, because of the extremist actions of oppositionists he had received “an internal hematoma of the left part of buttocks”.
- You received a blow on the soft tissue and spent 4 days in the hospital, - one of the lawyers asked to clear up the facts. -- Was the blow so strong?
- I could not walk because of the pain! There was a swelling of the upper part of the posterior hip, -- said the heavyset man.
Meanwhile, Ivan Kondratenko, a Russian human rights activist, an expert of the International Observation Mission of the Committee on International Control over Human Rights Situation in Belarus, is in no joking mood. He was detained on April 28 in the evening when he left the court of Kastrychnitski district of Minsk. As informed by the colleagues of the activist, 5 men in mufti encircle the human rights watchdog and took him to a police department. In the police department of Maskouski district of Minsk Kondratenko’s passport and mobile phone were seized. Earlier the head of the Committee’s mission, a Russian citizen Andrei Yurov, was deported.
By he way, the trial over Sannikov is unusual for Belarus at least because no other oppositionist had stood trial for such a long time – the legal proceedings continue for the 3rd day, and is far from being finished.
One cannot really see people attacking riot policemen at the pictures for some reason. Photo by AP