VIOLENT ARRESTS, POOR PRISON CONDITIONS, AND

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MINSK 000403

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/13/2016
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL
SUBJECT: VIOLENT ARRESTS, POOR PRISON CONDITIONS, AND
RIDICULOUS CHARGES

REF: A. MINSK 331


B. MINSK 369

Classified By: AMBASSADOR GEORGE KROL FOR REASONS 1.4 (B,D)



1. (C) Summary: Nearly three weeks have passed since the
March 19 presidential election and the subsequent wave of
arrests of street protesters. Detainees who were recently
released have shared with independent press and Emboffs their
accounts of violent arrests and meager prison conditions.
They complained of beatings, overcrowded cells, little
medical assistance, and little or no food for the first few
days of detainment. Although many have now been released,
other well-known activists, such as Zubr,s Nikita Sasim and
Malady Front,s Dmitry Dashkevich, remain in jail on absurd
charges. End Summary.

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Violent Arrests
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Stories Circulate
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2. (C) As detainees are being released, pro-opposition news
source Charter 97 continues to publish their personal
accounts of arrest and prison conditions. They accuse the
Special Forces and OMON riot police officers of violent
behavior during arrests and transport to detention centers.
Yuri Chavusav, a demonstrator arrested during the March 24
tent razing (Ref A) and sentenced to 10 days in jail, told
Charter 97 that security officers repeatedly punched and
kicked him in a bus and then choked him with his own scarf.
Andrei Kuzmienkov, a 16-year-old arrested on March 25,
suffered a ruptured kidney as a result of his beating, but
was not released to a hospital until the following day. In
an interview with independent newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda,
Kuzmienkov said he was beaten for holding the national
white-red-white flag during the demonstration.


3. (C) Human rights lawyers from the NGO Vyasna Valentin
Stephanovich and Ales Belyatsky told Ambassador on April 5
that they have enough evidence and plenty of witnesses to
prove Special Forces and OMON riot police beat detainees on
transport/arrest buses. The Vyasna lawyers noted prison
guards and regular police officers were not involved in the
beatings.

A First-Hand Account
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4. (C) Ales Yanukevich, the regional travel manager for 10
Coalition presidential candidate Aleksandr Milinkevich on
April 5 told Poloff similar stories of abuse. Yanukevich was
arrested on March 21 by Special Forces officers and escorted
to a waiting detention bus. There the officers randomly
punched him and other detainees. Yanukevich was wearing a
type of body armor and did not feel much from the blows.
However, when officers discovered Yanukevich was wearing
armor, they punched him several times in the back of the head.


5. (C) Yanukevich observed many detainees who apparently had
been beaten at the time of arrest or en route to the
Okryestina detention center. According to Yanukevich, one
&sadistic8 Special Forces unit was responsible for beating
many of the detainees. While in Okryestina, Yanukevich heard
a story that this Special Forces unit arrested two brothers
and beat them en route to Okryestina. The younger brother
was so badly injured that the officers stopped the bus,
pushed him out into the street, and drove away. Yanukevich
later heard that the young man could not walk for a week and
had not fully recovered.

Overcrowded Cells and Bad Food
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6. (C) Post has heard conflicting accounts about prison
conditions, but all agree that prison norms in Belarus are
lacking. Poloff on March 30 spoke to Vladimir Kishkurno, a
Belarusian Popular Front (BPF) activist arrested following
the elections. He claimed 15-25 people shared a stuffy
10-person cell with no ventilation. Inmates were lucky to
use the restroom once a day, no blankets or pillows were
provided, and most people had to sleep on the floor. The
food included kasha (buckwheat porridge),bread, and tea of
such poor quality that &a normal person would not feed it to
a pig.8 Prison guards were respectful. Many of the

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detainees were beaten, but the only medical assistance
rendered was bandages and iodine.


7. (C) Deputy United Civic Party leader Ludmila Gryaznova on
April 4 also complained to Poloff about the Special Forces,
violent behavior at the time of arrest and in the detention
center. She claimed officers regularly threatened to shoot
the men and rape the women. Moreover, the Special Forces
forced people to stand against a wall during their processing
at Okryestina in the freezing cold at night until many lost
consciousness. Disagreeing with Kishkurno,s testimony,
Gryaznova claimed inmates were feed well on a regular basis.

No Food For 24 Hours
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8. (C) Yanukevich told Poloff he shared a 6-person cell at
Okryestina with 10 other men. After being arrested, he stood
with his face to a wall most of the night until he was
processed, but was not fed until after his conviction in
court ) 24 hours later. He said the food was edible and
delivered regularly, but it was the food parcels from his
parents that helped him make it through his sentence. (Note:
During the court cases on March 25, defendants repeatedly
told Poloff and human rights lawyers that they had not been
fed in 32 hours.)

OSCE To Further Investigate Prison Conditions
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9. (C) OSCE representative Fiona Frazer on April 4 agreed
that lacking prison conditions during the first few days of
mass arrests were probably due to the unexpected influx of
detainees. However, though she allowed this was a reason,
she did not consider it an excuse for not feeding detainees.
Frazer said the OSCE determined Belarus, prison conditions
fell below acceptable standards, especially for Europe, and
intends to research the matter further.

Contacts Made
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10. (C) Vyasna, Gryaznova, and Yanukevich informed Poloffs
the imprisonment of the activists only served to further
energize the detainees, spirit to fight. The detained used
their 5 to 10-day sentences to establish contacts with new
civil society activists, listen to different opinions, and
come up with new ideas. Yanukevich said he used his time to
educate others about the disappeared opposition activists and
recruit members for his BPF party. All agreed that the mood
of the detainees was more positive when they left Okryestina
than when they arrived.

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Ongoing Concerns
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Nikita Sasim
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11. (U) Although many detainees have been released, others
remain in jail and face tougher sentences. On March 14, OMON
riot police arrested Zubr activist Nikita Sasim and gave no
reason. Sasim soon fell ill with appendicitis and was rushed
to a hospital for night surgery. The next morning, the
authorities, against the doctors, wishes, transported Sasim
to the hospital in his hometown of Baranovichi. There he was
strapped to his bed for a week and then moved to an isolation
cell at the police station where he will remain until his
trial for allegedly dodging the draft. (Note: On September
16, OMON officers beat Sasim after a demonstration, putting
him in the hospital with a concussion. His head injuries
allowed him to get a waiver from the draft.)

Dead Protester
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12. (SBU) No one has been able to confirm the fate of a
protester who the independent media claimed died from
injuries resulting from the March 25 protest (ref B).
Neither Vyasna, Milinkevich,s team, the independent media,
nor the OSCE has information confirming the missing protester
is indeed named Sergei Otroshchenko. The GOB continues to
claim that it has no hospital records for an Otroshchenko and
denies that a protester died.

Malady Front
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13. (C) Malady Front (MF) leader Dmitry Dashkevich has not
been released from Okryestina and is to be charged, along
with five MF colleagues, with running an unregistered
organization that violates Belarusians, rights. Poloff on
April 4 met with Dashkevich,s lawyer Aleksandr Guliyev, who
said the case against his client was a complete BKGB
fabrication. According to Guliyev, Dashkevich will most
likely be charged with a form of hooliganism that carries a
sentence of up to two years in jail. Dashkevich refuses to
acknowledge the charges against him and does not plan to
testify in court, which will not begin until at least
mid-May. Guliyev doubts Dashkevich will get anything less
than the maximum possible sentence.

Polish Ambassador Released
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14. (U) Authorities on April 7 discharged the former Polish
Ambassador to Belarus Mariusz Maszkiewicz from a Minsk
hospital and allowed to return to Poland. The diplomat was
arrested on March 24 on October Square when security services
razed the tent city. He was sentenced to 15 days in jail,
but after serving five days, fell ill and was sent to a
hospital for examinations and treatment.

Two-Year Sentence for Graffiti
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15. (U) On April 7, Judge Esmann of the Minsk Central Court
sentenced two Zubr activists Aleksandr Kazakov and Zmitser
Zubro to two years of &khimia8 (suspended freedom and
corrective labor) for insubordination to police officers.
The two activists were arrested on December 28 for
spray-painting circles with the number &168 in the center
on buildings in Minsk. The number 16 was part of the Day of
Solidarity campaign to support political prisoners. Kazakov
and Zubro remain free as their lawyers appeal the verdict and
sentence.
Krol