Zmitser Dashkevich threatened with new jail term

A former political prisoner can be thrown behind bars for any violation of the rules of police supervision.

Zmitser Dashkevich talked to charter97.org.

“I had to re-register yesterday from the Zavadzki district to the Pershamaiski district. I took the necessary documents in the Zavadski district police station and came to the Pershamaiski district. I talked to a police officer responsible for supervision. I told him about the police supervision in the Zavadski district. It's like a circus: they come to you at 20:02 for a check and say you'll go to jail if you are late two times more. The policeman said officers of the Pershmaiski district department don't do such things,” the politician noted.

Zmitser Dashkevich stressed when he talked to the chief officers of the supervision office, they said they had the right to check on him 30 seconds after 20:00 and even in the middle of the night with a special task group.

“I don't understand why they organise these provocations and threaten me with a jail term for being late for 30 seconds. I am going to apply to a prosecutor's office asking to talk to them or at least teach them to speak in a polite manner. I think a probability of violating the rules of police supervision is rather high,” the former political prisoner said.

Zmitser Dashkevich, 32, was released from Hrodna priosn N. 1 on August 28. He spent 986 days in prison on accusations of “malicious hooliganism”.

He and Young Front activist Eduard Lobau were detained in Minsk on December 18, 2010, a day before the presidential election. They were accused of beating two Minsk residents. The Young Front activists pleaded not guilty and said they didn't know the alleged victims, but the Maskouski district court found both guilty of malicious hooliganism on March 24, 2011. Dashkevich was sentenced to 2 years in a minimum security correctional colony; Lobau was given four years in a medium security correctional colony. On August 28, 2012, Dashkevich received an additional year in prison for “persistent failure to obey orders of prison officers”.

Photo: bnp.by