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CASE #264
Date
23 / 09 / 2020
City
Minsk
Perpetrators
  • 5th Special Brigade of the Armed forces of Belarus (Spetsnaz)
  • Almaz Special Anti-Terrorism Unit (SPBT Almaz)
  • Group 'Alpha' under the KGB of the Republic of Belarus
  • Plain clothed police officers
  • Special Purpose Police Unit OMON
Type of violation
  • Arbitrary or unlawful arrest and/or detention
  • Beating
  • Blows with batons and/or truncheons
  • Cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
  • Physical assaults (other)
  • Use of excessive force
International classification of violations
  • Prohibition of torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
  • Right to freedom of opinion and expression
  • Right to freedom of peaceful assembly
  • Right to liberty and security of person
  • Right to protection of property
Description

Time: nightime

Place/Location: on Vulica Niamiha

Identity of the victim(s): unknown protester

Identity of the perpetrator(s): unknown policemen but Minute 2:30 Plainclothes enforcement agent's identity can be identified.

A man testified while being given first aid. He suffered significant injuries to his head and face. He explained that an enforcement agent attacked him from behind hitting him with a truncheon.

From the 28th second, confrontations between demonstrators and the forces of order took place. The numerous police forces were heavily armed (equipped with truncheons and helmets, faces hidden behind masks/balaclavas) and ran towards the pedestrians, brutally arrest primarily men.

From the 40th second, a group of men without any distinctive sign of Belarusian law enforcement (their faces are covered with black hoods and they are holding truncheons in their hands) brutally arrested two civilian men in a Burger King café. The officers twisted their arms behind their backs and dragged them out of the cafe towards the stairs in an unknown direction. (Video #3 are filming in more details this event).

From the 56th second, a man was tackled to the ground, in the middle of the road, with cars around them, by two members of the police force. (Video #2 is also about this.)

From minute 1.02, an arrest by law enforcement agents of an male civilian. The victim was carried by three (Minskij OMON agents group 723) against his will, two hold his legs, one holds his head (upper body). He was taken to a truck where other police officers were also there to make enter by force another man. One of the detainees tried to resist to enter in the truck but he was strongly pushed by the police.

From minute 1.17, while running in the street, armed forces were filmed, possibly Spetsnaz (khaki uniform, black gears).

From minute 1:30, a plainclothes enforcement agent stood on a Pobediteley highway, threatening drivers with a truncheon.

From minute 1,34, a man tried to run away but was pursued by three policemen before being stopped by about five of them. Paddy wagons and vans with no license plates stretched along Pobediteley and Niamiha streets. The streets looked rather empty. Another middle-aged male pedestrian was pushed by an OMON agent and fell.

From minute 2.06, individuals threw an unidentified object at a man, who was not wearing special forces clothing but was wearing a khaki helmet, a mask, a bullet-proof vest and a baton. This object fell at his feet. This man then pursued the men who have thrown this object at him. The individuals tried to escape from the violence of this man who raised his baton. The individuals began to scream. They arrived at a place where there were other police officers as well as people who were not members of the OMOH special forces but who were wearing batons. The person filming the scene was first stopped by one of these men with batons. The latter managed to bypass this man to film one or two individuals on the ground surrounded by a dozen police officers (plainclothes police and OMON). But the person filming couldn't manage to continue being forced to stop by police officers.

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