“One policemen grabbed Vera by her hair and pulled” (More shocking details of arrests in Minsk) :: Charter'97 :: News

Katsiaryna Kliatsouka came from Poland to Belarus with her daughter Vera and Mariusz Mackiewicz, the ex-ambassador of Poland . They took part in the protests and were arrested on the Kastrychnitskaya square. Here is the interview Katsiaryna gave to the Belarusian service of Radio Free Europe.

“Buses came to the square. We were surrounded. Riot police jumped out of the buses. They ordered us “lie down on the ground”. We lied down, and every second or third policemen began to beat us. I held on to Vera. Some girl stood in the middle of the tent camp and began to pray. It was so dramatic. I couldn’t believe I really was there. It seemed to me as if I were an angel, and will now fly away from the Kastrychnitskaya square and won’t have to see all this.

One policemen grabbed Vera by her hair and pulled. Another screamed at him, “don’t beat her, don’t you see that she is totally young”. The other one beat her nevertheless.

They pulled her away. Then they threw me head towards down the asphalt pavement. Falling down, I hit the ground with the back of my head. Then they hit me in the face. Now the left side of my face is injured, I have a bruise under my left eye.

They grabbed me as some pig, threw into the bus. They screamed at us, called us pigs, asked what we were doing here, with this revolution. In the bus they kicked me in by back all the time.

I lie on the floor and thoughts are stirring in my head, “Where is Vera? Where is Mariusz?” I didn’t recognize them. I fainted. When I regained my consciousness, I still haven’t been able to recognise them for several minutes.

Then they prevented us from talking to each other. Every word was as precious as gold. They cruelly screamed at us when we dared to speak.

When they brought us to the prison on Akrestsina, the whole corridor was jammed with people. They treated us as real criminals, screaming, “Face the wall! Stop talking! Turn off the cell phones!” Then they went from one to another, asking, if there were underage children.

So we stood near the wall, I have no idea, how long. They arrested us around 3 a.m. And we had to stand facing the wall till around 1 p.m.

Vera was set free around 11 p.m. That means, she spent 20 hours in prison. She was picked up by her biological father. Policemen threatened him with major problems, if he fails to prevent his daughter from being politically active.

The fear paralysed my soul.

When the court hearing began, I didn’t even care what they accused me of. I was taken to the Leninski district court (in Minsk). There are casemates there, some kind of basement. There, in this basement, there are cells, each of them with 10 people. Some cells were so overcrowded, that the guards even left the doors half-opened. Our cell’s door was locked, though. I was the first to be brought before the court. The judge asked me, what I had seen. What have I heard? I answered that I didn’t chant anything. Except for the slogan “Long live Belarus!” Can it be considered anti-state? The judge told me “not to come to revolutions again”.

And sentenced me to 3 days in prison.

And gave me an advice: stay home and look after your children rather than make revolutions.

They didn’t even give us water. They took me straight into the prison after the hearing. Policemen were very angry, because they also had no breakfast and dinner. Every arrested person was followed by 3 cops.”