Time: -

Place/Location: the place of detention - a parking lot near the Lida castle; the garage of the Lida District Department of Internal Affairs

Identity of the victim(s): 28-year-old Lida photographer Yaroslav Veselovich

Identity of the perpetrator(s): undefined

Yaroslav Veselovich was detained on 11 August 2020 in a parking lot near the castle. He was returning from a peaceful protest in the city centre. It is difficult for Yaroslav to remember what happened next. He said that they started beating in the bus and continued on the territory of the so-called "car wash" - the garage of the Lida District Department of Internal Affairs.

"We were picked up in the parking lot near the tax office not far from the castle. We were detained by traffic police officers, then handed over to others. Four people worked: two threw us inside, two took us on a bus. The car was dark in colour. That's all I remember about it. My friend was detained with shouts: "Stop, bitch, I will shoot!" I tried to run away but did not leave. I said to the traffic police: "Calm, calm!". I was transferred to the bus. They tightened my hands with a plastic clip and started beating me as soon as the car doors were closed. They beat me with their hands, feet, stamped on my back, legs and arms. Already in the car, they took away the phones and asked for the passwords. 

They brought us to the "car wash". There were already about 40 people there. They kept bringing more and more people. The new ones were beaten very severely, and then they switched to those who were there before. We were beaten with truncheons on our legs, buttocks, lying down, sitting, standing. Then we lay face down on the floor. If someone moved, they beat him, someone moaned - they also beat him. They stepped on bare feet - the employees were in ankle boots and full ammunition. There were also humiliations: they called us bitches and faggots, me in particular because of the earring in the ear - "full of holes" they said. My friend Sergei was pulled by the ear. They poked with truncheons in the anus area, laughed and imitated sounds of a sexual nature. They said that they "earned a vacation, and we will be in prison." All this was not spoken in such a literary language, of course." - said Yaroslav in his interview.

"For some reason, we were constantly asked about "the money received for participating in the rally", they laughed at my phone. Like I didn't make money for an iPhone. Me and two other guys were sprayed with some kind of marks on our clothes: yellow and red. The back of the head was painted white. Something was applied to the face with paint - in my opinion, crosses, when I could see myself in the mirror, there were only rare traces of paint. At some point I was in a rather bad state - I have heart problems. I began to lose consciousness and tried to say, to explain that I felt bad - but they started beating me again. I really really wanted to lose consciousness, just not to see, feel, disconnect - but they poured cold water on us between beatings. I remember people being lifted to their feet, lined up in two rows and beaten with their knees in the stomach."

On 12 August 2020, Yaroslav was transferred to a temporary detention centre, where he stayed  until 14 August 2020.  He was then released.