Up to 1,000 Arrested, Trials Have Begun

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MINSK 000337

SIPDIS

KIEV ALSO FOR USAID

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM BO
SUBJECT: Up to 1,000 Arrested, Trials Have Begun

Refs: (A) Minsk 331, (B) Minsk 307


1. Summary: Trials for those arrested March 24, when police raided
the protest tent camp on October Square, started on March 24. Most
of the detained are being sentenced to 10-15 days in trails that
last 10 minutes at most. Reportedly, so one has been acquitted.
Police detained another estimated 100 people on March 25, bringing
the total number arrested in the past week up to possibly 1,000.
Exact numbers are impossible to confirm, as the authorities have
not released any information on detainees and have denied families
access to most of those arrested March 24 and all of those from
March 25. No one, including his wife, seems to know the
whereabouts of opposition presidential candidate Aleksandr Kozulin,
arrested and reportedly beaten March 25. Numerous credible reports
and news video footage shows that police beat a number of people on
March 25. The Vyasna human rights NGO stated 10 protesters needed
medical treatment after being beaten, while the Minister of
Interior dubiously claimed eight police officers were injured when
the opposition threw an "explosive device" into their ranks. No
one can confirm rumors that one demonstrator was killed by the
police. End summary.


Mass Arrests, Number Unknown
--------------


2. Authorities have arrested hundreds, possibly as many as 1,000,
of opposition activists and protesters since the March 19
presidential election. Valentin Stefanovich of the Vyasna human
rights NGO reported that authorities arrested more than 200 people
on March 21 and 22 in relation to the protest on October Square.
He estimated around another 500 were arrested in the early morning
on March 24 when security services raided the October Square
protest and arrested all participants. Vyasna believes around 100
more were arrested on March 25 around the Milinkevich demonstration
near October Square and during the interrupted march to the
Okrestina detention center. The opposition United Civic Party
(UCP) released a list of 59 women, including UCP deputy Valentina
Polevikova, who were arrested between March 25 and 27 and are being
held together in one detention center. Vyasna, other human rights
groups, opposition parties and the independent media all report
that it is impossible to find out who and how many people were
arrested as the authorities are not releasing any information.


Kozulin Still Missing
--------------


3. Opposition presidential candidate Aleksandr Kozulin is among
those detained on March 25. Although it was reported he was
transferred to a detention center in Zhodina, 30 miles east of
Minsk, on March 27 his wife told a press conference that she had no
idea where her husband was being held and that police would give
her no information. Human rights activist Oleg Volchek, one of
Kozulin's senior campaign workers, told Post March 27 that
Kozulin's team also did not know his whereabouts, but they believed
he was still in Minsk. Kozulin's spokeswoman, Nina Shidlovskaya,
told Post she thought Kozulin was in Minsk's Volodarskogo detention
center, but admitted no one had been allowed to communicate with
him.


Other Big Names Accounted For
--------------


4. Several other prominent opposition members have been detained.
Pavel Mazheiko, Milinkevich's spokesman, was detained for two hours
on March 25. He was in a car with the public address system
Milinkevich used to address the March 25 demonstration. After the
event, police pulled over the car, seized the equipment and
arrested Mazheiko. Mazheiko told Post he was freed only because of
Milinkevich's efforts to find him. The equipment remains in police
custody. Mazheiko also told Post that Milinkevich's stepson was
arrested on March 25. Milinkevich and his team have been searching
for him in all the courts and detention centers, but still have no
information on his whereabouts.


5. Russian journalist Pavel Sheremet was also arrested on March 25.
Sheremet's colleague, Narodnaya Volya deputy editor Svetlana
Kalinkina, told Post she was with Sheremet watching the March 25
demonstration (before it began to march on Okrestina) when five
police officers came into the crowd and detained Sheremet. BT news
on March 26 showed several clips of Sheremet and Kalinkina watching
the demonstration, so it is clear the GOB had its eyes on Sheremet.
Sheremet went before the court on March 27, charged with swearing
in public, and was ordered deported within 24 hours with a five-
year ban on returning to Belarus. [Note: Sheremet's parents live

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in Minsk.] Kalinkina told Post that Sheremet was feeling unwell as
he had pneumonia (contracted before he came to Minsk) and because
police beat him after his arrest. On March 26, BT showed an
interview with a doctor who claimed she examined Sheremet after his
arrest, and that he only had a slight sore throat.


Poor Conditions in Detention Centers
--------------


6. According to Vyasna, several detainees Poloffs spoke to on March
24, and the British Embassy, which was granted consular access to a
Canadian detainee on March 24, many of those detained on March 24
were not fed for the first 24 hours. However, a Belarusian Popular
Front member also arrested March 24 told Post he was fed once
before his trial the day of his arrest. Post has heard that
detainees began to receive regular meals on March 25, but has no
information about any of those detained the 25th. Detainees'
families complain many were not allowed to deliver food or warm
clothing to their jailed relatives, as is usual practice. The
British Embassy was told March 25 it could not deliver blankets to
the jailed Canadian that day, as detention center authorities could
only allow five such deliveries at a time, and their staff was
already overwhelmed. British ConOffs saw some people who were able
to deliver food and warm clothing. Post believes these problems
stem from detention centers not being prepared for the mass influx
of arrests, rather than from any desire to mistreat the opposition
activists.


7. BelaPAN news service reported that Dmitry Shimansky,
Milinkevich's campaign leader for Brest, who was jailed for 10 days
on March 24 for an unsanctioned protest, is now in the hospital.
Shimansky reportedly told the press his temperature soared and the
jail called an ambulance on three occasions, on March 24, 25 and

26. On the 26th, medical personnel diagnosed him with severe flu
and brought him to the hospital, where he is now on antibiotics.
Shimansky claimed his cell was very humid and the temperature
inside dropped to 54 degrees nightly.


Beatings and Maybe One Death; GOB Blames the Opposition
-------------- --------------


8. Video footage of the March 25 demonstration clearly shows that
the security forces used violence to disperse the march to
Okrestina. BBC and EuroNews have run clips showing several OMON
officers beating a couple of middle-aged women with clubs. They
also clearly showed some sort of smoke grenades being used against
demonstrators; some reports claim this was teargas, while others
said they were just smoke grenades. Western press also showed
several bloody demonstrators lying in the street and police
carrying one person away on a stretcher. A freelance American
journalist showed Post footage of police kicking, punching and
beating demonstrators. Vyasna told Post that ten demonstrators
required medical attention because of police violence, but details
on this are scarce. Some reports claim demonstrators received
skull and spinal injuries from police clubs. Several sources are
reporting an unconfirmed story that one demonstrator died after
police clubbed him on the head. Post has not spoken with anyone
who can confirm this story. The UCP claims it has information that
Viktor Lukashenko, 29-year old son of the president and his
National Security Advisor, took personal part in the March 25
violence. A press source reports that it was Presidential Security
forces, dressed as OMON police, who broke-up the March 24 tent city
protest on October Square. This source said the OMON was under
orders not to use any force, but Presidential Security disobeyed
and beat a number of detainees after their arrest. Post has heard
from numerous sources that some detainees were beaten, and video
footage shows OMON commander Yury Podobed telling his troops during
the raid not to use force.


9. Authorities announced that only three demonstrators needed
medical attention for mild injuries received when they were
trampled by their own side. However, Minister of Interior Vladimir
Naumov announced that eight police officers are in the hospital
after demonstrators threw bottles and "an explosive device" into
the police ranks. On March 26, BT news showed heavily bandaged
police complaining of their mistreatment at the hands of the
opposition. BT also showed a smoke grenade striking the shields of
police as they awaited the opposition march. [Note: From the flat
trajectory of the grenade, it appeared to have been shot at the
police rather than thrown, making it unlikely it came from the
unarmed opposition.] Naumov also said two BT journalists needed
medical attention after the opposition pelted them with snowballs
in Yanki Kupali park, where Milinkevich and Kozulin spoke. [Note:
The crowd did throw snowballs at these "journalists," but it is
doubtful the snow injured anything but their pride.]

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Closed Trials Have Begun
--------------


10. Some of those arrested March 24 went to court that same day.
Poloff observed two trials, both of which lasted 7 to 10 minutes,
at the Partizansky District Court, where 29 detainees received 10
or 15-day sentences. The judge read the written accusations from
the arresting officers, who were not present, asked the defendant
for their plea and story, and then handed down the conviction. No
witnesses were invited to either case. One person was sentenced to
10-days in jail, and the other to 5-days (the defendant credited
Poloff's presence for this lighter sentence.)


11. Vyasna, opposition parties and the independent press report
that trials began in courts across Minsk after noon on March 27 for
those arrested March 24 and 25. Authorities have closed all courts
to spectators, including relatives, journalists and human rights
groups. Nonetheless, information has begun to leak out. Buses
with detainees pulled up behind the Central District Court
building. Press reports claim that detainees were taken into the
court one at a time, usually returning after just five minutes
inside. The first few detainees to return shouted to waiting
relatives and press that they received either 10 or 15-day
sentences for petty hooliganism or for participating in an
unsanctioned demonstration. Police shouted at them to be quiet and
the rest of the detainees said nothing when they returned to the
bus. Post confirmed with the secretary of Pervomaisky District
Court that trials are taking place there for detainees bused in
from Zhodino (where they were taken presumably because Minsk's
detention centers are full),but that the trials are closed to the
public. The UCP claimed that those whose last name begins with O
through S are being tried at the Lenin District Court. Due to the
large number of people detained, these trials are likely to last
several days.


12. According to press reports, three Russian citizens arrested
March 24 have been sentenced to 15-days in jail each. The
Ukrainian Embassy told BelaPAN that seven Ukrainians were arrested
March 24. Four of them were minors and were deported on March 24
and 25, with a five-year ban on returning. Two more were sentenced
to 15-days in jail, and one is awaiting trial. Former Polish
Ambassador to Belarus Mariusz Maszkiewicz is reportedly going to
trail on March 27.


KROL