Zmitser Yasevich: “I saw blood on faces and clothes of some people in bus”

On March 30 first convicted for celebration of Freedom Day were released from a remand prison in Akrestsin Street. A young activist Zmitser Yasevich, whose mother was called “a cashier of opposition” by Minister Navumau, was among them.

In an interview to the Charter’97 press-center Zmitser Yasevich told how the arrest took place, how people are recruited by secret service at Akrestsin Street, and why his mother who rushed to protect young people found herself among the arrested too.

- Zmitser, how was you arrested?

- When we were forced back to the editorial office of “Vecherniy Minsk”, riot policemen started to encircle little groups of people and make them pass through a so-called “corridor” to buses. I found myself in one of such circles. When the bus was filled with people, it was very crowded there. We were taken to the police department of Savetski district.

- And how did the arrest take place?

- It was all very rough. Somebody was snatched at a hand and clothes were torn… Heaven forbid falling – people could walk on you. I was simply lucky, I got off with just a few bruises and lumps, but there were people in the bus at whose faces and clothes I saw blood. Some of them complained of pain.

- When all were taken to the police department of Savetski district, was medical assistance provided to anyone?

- There were about 50 of us, two buses, who were taken to the department. When everybody was taken to a big hall, a person of 30 was beside me. He complained of a stitch in his right side, and he asked to call in an ambulance. An ambulance was called in in only an hour and a half. When it arrived, an officer had a “talk” with doctors, and they told that the man didn’t need hospitalization. Another young man said that his arm had been injured, and possibly broken, but nobody reacted. Only Yaraslau Hryschenya was taken away by an ambulance. The press photographer of “Nasha Niva” Andrei Lyankevich was left, though he was bloodstained head-to-toe.

- What happened in the police department of Savetski district next?

- Everybody was searched, personal belongings were searched, and reports drawn up.

- For how long did it last?

- It ended rather quickly. All reports were prepared beforehand. Only names of persons were filled in there, but we were kept in the police department until 5 a.m. Naturally nobody could sleep. We haven’t been offered either water or food. Then we were taken to the special detention center in Akrestsin Street. We were kept for about an hour outdoors, in an enclosed yard, until administration decided where we should be placed.

- And where you were placed?

- About 20 persons, including me, were placed to a cell for 10-12 persons. We were kept there until the court. I had no documents with me, and I was tried as an unidentified person. After the court I was returned to a larger cell until identification was completed. I was there alone. I spent there a day. Later I was taken to the court again. The verdict was read out there, and then I was returned in Akrestsin Street detention center into a cell where everybody was serving the sentence for participation in Freedom Day rally.

- There were reports that KGB officers visited cells of March 25 protesters and tried to recruit them. Could you say something about that?

- Yes, on the third day when I was placed in a cell to “political” prisoners, chekists (KGB servicemen) visited us and summoned for a “conversation”. A student of the Belarusian State University Yury was among us (I do not remember his surname). After such a conversation he returned very nervous, and he told that he signed some paper. We could not find out any further details, as in a few minutes he was told to take his things and go. I think he was released immediately, as when everybody was released after 5 days of arrest, he was absent, though he had been sentenced to the same term.

- Zmitser, while you were in prison, Minister Navumau charged your mother of being an “opposition’s cashier”: she was detained with a big sum of money which was stacked accurately. How could you comment on that?

- I found out about that only after release. I was just talking about it with my mother. She came to Yakub Kolas Square as she worried about me, and when she saw how Dashkevich and Finkevich were beaten and packed into the police bus, she insisted on being taken in the same bus.

- And what happened next?

- When they saw money in the police department, they didn’t react, but when she was taken to Akrestsin Street before the trial, they started to make pictures and shoot her for some reason, though she immediately explained why she had such a sum with her. She planned to buy construction materials.

- Was the money confiscated?

- In the police department of Partyzanski district she was tried for alleged participation in an unsanctioned rally and sentenced to a fine of 1 mln rubles. The judge told that first she should pay a fine out of that sum, and then the whole sum would be returned. She had to pay.