Breus: They used no tortures, but threatened to send us to the KGB prison

The Maskouski district court of Minsk considered the Russian citizens Artsiom Breus and Ivan Haponau guilty in participation in the December 19 mass disturbances. However, they were fined for 300 base fees (about 10, 5 million roubles) and released right in the court hall. According to Artsiom Breus, no tortures were used against them, however, there was some pressure during interrogations.

"The only thing is, there was some pressure when representatives of the operative department came. They threatened that they would use physical force against us, or send us to the KGB detention center (the political prisoners were kept in the detention center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs at Valadarski Street – Euroradio), but there were no direct tortures".

The Russians may claim the sentence after they consult their lawyer.

"We are free, thus, we are satisfied with the sentence", — Artsiom Breus has said after release.

According to him, such mild sentence is connected with lack of proofs.

"In fact, there was a lack of proofs. That is why it would have been too brutal if they sentenced us to imprisonment. There was nothing special in the video materials, only us in the crowd of demonstrators. We did nothing; we did not hit or kick anything. These video materials proved that we were innocent, most likely", — Breus thinks.

Ivan Haponau does not exclude that his arrest might be connected with his Russian citizenship. However, he didn’t want to speak about it.

"Maybe yes, maybe no. I think everyone understands everything, to be exact, everyone means that. Why speaking about it? The conditions in the pre-trial detention center were normal. I will describe everything later in my book. And now I am going to eat somewhere”.

Russian Embassy’s advisor Vadzim Huseu, who attended the court trial, has said that the Embassy greets such sentence. However, he has underlined that Breus and Haponau did not admit guilt.

"I would like to say that, on the whole, the Embassy greeted the Belarusian court’s verdict on release of the Russian citizens from custody right in the court hall. At the same time, I would like to underline that neither Breus nor Haponau admitted guilt. The Russian side took a clear and firm position on immediate release of all political prisoners, from the very start".

The sentence against a 51-year-old Belarusian Dzmitry Miadzvedz was stricter, although the proofs base was almost the same. He did not admit guilt at the trial, 15 injured policemen also claimed they did not recognize him and have nothing against him. Nevertheless, the public prosecutor asked for 4 years of imprisonment for him. In the end, Miadzvedz was sentenced to 3 years of personal restraint without sending him to special facilities, and released right in the court hall.  “Frankly speaking, I am so tired. But my close people are here, and I am very happy, — Dzmitry Miadzvedz commented upon his sentence to Euroradio. —The sentence is like it is".

According to Miadzvedz, no tortures were used against him.

"I heard nothing about it. Everything was okay with me. God helps, everything will be okay".

Breus and Haponau say they are not going to leave yet. They are under a non-leave obligation until they pay the fine.

"There was a claim for 14 million roubles against us. We are very grateful to the human rights organizations that they paid it. How we will decide what to do next", —  Artsiom Breus has said.

Photo: photo.bymedia.net