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Prosecutor’s office dismisses activist’s complaint over detention in Mahilyow jail

The Mahilyow Regional Prosecutor’s Office has dismissed a complaint filed by a young activist over his treatment in a detention center in Mahilyow.

Anton Kastsow, a member of an online community campaigning against a new tax on motor vehicle owners, served a three-day jail term last December after a district judge found him guilty of organizing an unsanctioned “mass event.”

He complained to the prosecutor’s office about having to share his cell with a person with a record of criminal convictions in violation of regulations.

In its reply, the prosecutor’s office said that it had found no evidence proving the young man’s claims. It said that all papers and video footage that could help establish with whom Mr. Kastsow had shared his cell had been destroyed before the probe.

Human rights defender Barys Bukhel lashed out at the detention center’s administration.
“When a person is placed in detention the government takes the responsibility for everything that is happening to him,” he stressed. “If an inexperienced person has to share a cell with a criminal offender anything can happen there. That’s why a law stipulates that such people should be held in separate cells.”

On December 24, police officers searched Mr. Kastsow’s home and seized his laptop. The young man was arrested when he presented himself at the Kastrychnitski district police station on December 26 for a scheduled interview.

In a trial held later in the day, a judge of the Kastrychnitski District Court in Mahilyow found Mr. Kastsow guilty of organizing an unsanctioned anti-tax "mass event" on Mira Avenue. //BelaPAN