Prosecutor: It's OK to record on video police officers commiting unlawful acts

Amendments to the Civil Code, currently being drafted in Belarus, set out provisions forbidding to take pictires or film videos of the police force and Interior Troops personnel as well as ordinary citizens without their consent. The provision allegedly aims to protect people from the 'disruption of private life' and prevent violation of the 'right to personal privacy.'

But, can one take pictures of the police officers on official duty when they are committing an unlawful act? Euroradio has posed this question to Minsk City Prosecutor Siarhei Khmaruk, and this is what he had to say:

"If representatives of civil society witness, as they understand it, unlawful actions being committed [by members of the law-enforcement], there is nothing wrong to record the committed offence on video to be later presented as evidence to the bodies empowered to carry out preliminary investigation." The Minsk City Prosecutor made this statement during a press conference on 27 December in Minsk.