Homiel resident gets punished with 5-day arrest for calling police

Civic activist Kanstancin Zhukouski will spend five days of an administrative arrest in jail.

The decision was made by a judge Volha Kazlova on 28 August as she considered the administrative protocol, made by police, BelaPAN reports.

The Homiel resident was detained by riot police on 25 August in the courtyard of his own house. Zhukouski called the police, road police to be precise, himself: trucks from the neighboring construction site had blocked the entrance into his courtyard and the drivers had not react to the requests to liberate the driveway. Together with road police riot policemen came, who subsequently detained the activist, having charged him with “insubordination to legitimate demands of policemen” (article 23.4 of the Code of Administrative Conduct).

I court Zhukouski claimed he had not committed the violation he was charged with. A road policeman, having arrived, immediately demanded the activist to follow into the service car, without explaining the reasons. When Zhukouski refused, the riot policemen took him to the service car, and then to the central police department, and then to jail, where the Homiel resident spent the night. In the morning the trial was supposed to take place, but it was postponed until 28 August in order to give Zhukouski the possibility to find a lawyer and witnesses.

The activist believes that the detention was a planned action aimed at giving him a lesson. “There have been construction works near my house for four years, and there are multiple violations. I repeatedly wrote complaints into different institutions about the violations of the legislation. So the contractor – Center-Leasing – decided to give me a lesson with the help of police”, - the detained believes.

His wife was a witness in court. She testified that on that day, 25 August, she was returning home and heard as a representative of the contractor company said to the driver of the truck, which was blocking the entrance into Zhukouski’s courtyard, “If this petty wretch appears, you know, what to do”.

In court road and riot policemen claimed they had just asked the Homiel resident to show an ID, while he refused and “attempted to hide”, which meant to enter his own courtyard in a car. Zhukouski claimed that he presented the court of the evidence of a videotape, showing that he gave an ID to police, precisely – a passport. The suggestion to go into the service car was unmotivated. He suggested the police to sort things out in the courtyard or his house.

During the court hearings, a convoy policeman looked into the courtroom with handcuffs in his hands. He waited in the hall, while the court made the decision, and then took Zhukouski into the service car to take him to jail.

“It is all clear. The judge did not yet made the decision, the lawyer and myself did not speak with the evidence of my innocence, while they had already called the jail convoy. This is a planned action, aimed at teaching me a lesson and untie the hands of the contractor, who violates the legislation”, - the activist added.