Prison guards mock arrested African

A man, who knows neither Russian nor English, was placed in a stress position in the detention facility.

The man, supposedly from an African country, has been in the detention centre in Akrestsin Street for a long time, Viasna human rights centre reports.

He knows neither Russian nor English, which creates a communication barrier between him and prison guards. Human rights activist learnt it from coordinator of European Belarus civil campaign Maksim Viniarski, who had spent 12 days in the cell with the African detainee:

“On April 23, the second day of my term, I was transferred to two-place cell No. 37. There was a black man, Patric. I didn't understand his surname, but it begins with the letter M. He doesn't speak Russian or English.

Prison guards referred to him as “Kongo”, but I don't know if he comes from this country.”

According to Viniarski, Patric doesn't eat dinner preferring only soup for lunch. He probably waits for being deported to his home country or documents from the embassy, but firstly, it takes a long time, secondly, it's most likely that his country doesn't have an embassy in Belarus.

“On May 2, Patric refused to enter the cell after the morning roll call,” Maksim Viniarski continues. “Prison officers tried to take him in by force, but he protested and repeated the word 'embassy' in Russian. After a quarrel, the guards knocked him down, pushed me into the cell and closed the door. I watched the further events through a crack in the door. They handcuffed Patric's arms behind his back and fixed his ankles under the arms making a kind of a bow. Patric was shouting 'Rasisto'. They went away, and Patric began to release his legs. They saw it and twisted him again. He was left lying in the corridor until breakfast. They then threw him into the cell.”