Investigation Committee comments on journalist beatng: he stumbled

The Investigation Committee has finished a 3-months check-up of the beating of tut.by reporter Pavel Dabravolski by policemen in Minsk's Frunzenski District Court on January 25. Investigator Syamyon Pitsko agreed with the policemen’s version. Dabravolski can be considered an infringer and the use of force was justified, tut.by quotes him.

The policemen dragged activists Pavel Syarhei and Maksim Shytsik into a room in court. Dabravolski followed them. The activists had been protesting during the graffitists’ trial.

According to the Investigation Committee, Dabravolski entered the room in plain clothes and had no signs that could indicate that he was a reporter. By the way, he showed the policemen his journalist’s ID, the reporter said.

Both activists and the journalist claimed that the policemen had beaten them for no reason.

The policemen acted according to the law because they had to stop the actions of the detained, the Investigation Committee decided. The video recorded by Dabravolski on his phone (in the room where he was beaten) does not contain anything important that could be used during a check-up, the Investigation Committee concluded.

Dabravolski grabbed policeman Kavalchuk by the jacket and was swearing, placemen A. Shyshko said. The reporter was resisting the policemen when he ‘stumbled and fell on the floor’. Nobody humiliated and beat the detained, Shyshko claimed.

Dabravolski stood up and started waving his hands, Shyshko added. Shyshko and P.Punchyk had to pull him onto the floor and pinion his arms to make him calm down, the policeman said. He also said that Dabravolski had told them that they would have problems at work because he would write an article about it and cause a stir in mass media.

By the way, policeman Shyshko was a witness at Uladzimir Matskevich trial 1.5 months after the incident. He claimed that he had seen the philosopher at a protest action in Minsk. However, Matskevich was in Warsaw at the time of the street action.  

All the policemen said that they had not beaten the detained.

“Policemen do not bear responsibility for the damage done when using physical force in cases allowed by the law”, the Investigation Committee concluded.

Dabravolski did not register as a reporter in Frunze District Court, the Investigation Committee stated. However, he was registered by the court press sectary, the journalist said.