CCPR/C/126/D/2383/2014
The author is not represented by counsel. The Optional Protocol entered into force in
Belarus on 30 December 1992.
Factual background
2.1
The author was a candidate in the 2010 presidential elections in Belarus. On 19
December 2010, the day of the elections, the author, along with other presidential
candidates, organized a peaceful assembly at October Square in Minsk, which was
scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. They intended to wait for the election results at the assembly
and to protest against violations during the electoral process. Around 7 p.m., the author and
some 50 to 70 supporters were on their way to October Square in a procession, carrying
white flags displaying the message “For Neklyaev” and shouting slogans such as “For
Neklyaev” and “For Belarus”. They had a van with audio equipment for the assembly.
2.2
On the way to the assembly, the procession was stopped by the road police. The
documents on file indicate that the police unit in question received instructions to go to the
street on which the procession was being held, in order to prevent the disruption of public
transportation. At the same time, they were informed that there might be explosives in two
green and white vans. The police officers saw that the van in the author’s procession
matched the indicated description and blocked the road with their car. They asked to search
the group’s van. According to the author, the request was not directed to any person in
particular and the police did not move towards the van. The author’s supporters tried to
move the police car in order to unblock the road, when a group of 10 to 15 people dressed
in black uniforms without insignia attacked the procession and ordered everyone to lie
down on the ground. One of the attackers hit the author with a rubber baton, rendering him
unconscious. The attackers broke some of the windows of the van, took the equipment and
left. After being attended to by an ambulance team, the author was taken to the Minsk city
emergency polyclinic, where he was diagnosed with contusion of the soft tissues of the
head and face to the left, periorbital haematoma on the left, soft tissues injury of the
scapular region on the left and abrasion of the parietal and occipital regions.
2.3
At 12.39 a.m. on 20 December 2010, the author was taken from the polyclinic to the
temporary detention facility of the Committee of State Security in Minsk. The record of
arrest indicates that the author was suspected of having organized mass disorder. While
questioned by an investigator, the author complained about having been beaten by unknown
people during the procession. On 22 December 2010, the Prosecutor of the City of Minsk
approved the author’s detention and the author and his two lawyers signed a document
indicating that they had been informed of the detention order. On 29 December 2010, the
author was charged with organization and participation in mass disorder in violation of
article 293 (1) and (2) of the Criminal Code.
2.4
On 3 January 2011, one of the author’s lawyers appealed the detention order in the
Central District Court of Minsk. The Court rejected the author’s appeal on 6 January 2011.
2.5
On 18 January 2011, one of the author’s lawyers submitted a complaint to the
Committee of State Security concerning the refusal, on nine occasions, by the detention
facility administration to allow confidential meetings between the author and his lawyers,
under the pretext that all meeting rooms were occupied. On 24 January 2011, the author’s
wife submitted a complaint to the Prosecutor of the City of Minsk concerning denial of
access to a lawyer. Both complaints remained unanswered. On 27 January 2011, one of the
author’s lawyers submitted a complaint to the Prosecutor General concerning denial of
access to a lawyer. The lawyer had brought the same complaint before the Central District
Court of Minsk on 3 January 2011, when appealing the detention order. On the basis of the
fact that the lawyers had met with the author on 22 December 2010, the Court concluded
that there was no violation of the author’s rights. On 29 January 2011, the author was
released from the detention facility and placed under house arrest.
2.6
On 28 January 2011, the author submitted a request to initiate a criminal
investigation of his ill-treatment to the Committee of State Security. On 29 January 2011,
one of the author’s lawyers submitted a similar request to the Prosecutor of the City of
Minsk. On 7 and 11 February 2011, the Committee of State Security and the Deputy
Prosecutor of the City of Minsk, respectively, responded that the circumstances of the
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