"Tough" GUBOPiK, or Justice Belarusian-Style

What did you come here for?
- I made a mistake
- What mistake? 
- My political views


Video of the arrest
On 29 September, the official channels of the Interior Ministry and state media published a video from the scene of the arrest of several young men, in which they confess to having "damaged" a car belonging to a security officer. 

Five people ended up in the dock: Anton Bykovsky, Artyom Anischuk, Pavel Sakharchuk, Andrey Nechipor and Egor Evstratov.

The court hearings made it clear that at least 8 people had been at the scene; the identities of the others supposedly could not be established. As it later emerged, the others were Interior Ministry officers who had been "tracking" the young men (recording their conversations in a Telegram chat and gathering compromising material) long before the incident.

Alexander Geits, an officer of the Interior Ministry's Department of Corrections whose car had "suffered", told the honest Belarusian court that he was sincerely bewildered by what had happened, and that he had been polite and courteous at the scene of the arrest. 

But what really happened?

The young men were detained by the SOBR special rapid response unit and GUBOPiK officers. Over the next 4 hours, the following "investigative actions" took place:

The detainees offered no resistance, but that did not stop the officers from spraying pepper gas into each of their faces (two people held them while a third sprayed). Their hands were cuffed behind their backs so tightly that they could not feel their fingers for more than 2 days. Alexander Geits told them he would make life "sweet" for all of them.  

GUBOPiK officers used stun guns on their ears, heads and groins. Sometimes they used three stun guns at once. Many still have marks on their bodies. Then the young men were piled on top of each other and the officers jumped on them, forcing them to shout "I love OMON" and filming it on their personal phones. The officers deliberately twisted the detainees' knee, shoulder and elbow joints. In addition to threats to hang them from a tree and rape them (GUBOPiK officers looked for a condom to put on a baton), the detainees were repeatedly stamped into the asphalt.

Let us remind you that all this went on for about 4 hours. 

One of the detainees, later sentenced to 2 years' imprisonment, was Artyom Anischuk. 

"Artyom had worked in the security service of the Minsk Metro since 2015, and was later promoted to inspector of the rapid response section. His duties included finding weak spots in the metro's security, anti-terrorism security of the metro, training and checking the inspectors on duty at metro stations, and video surveillance at the stations. He performed his duties excellently, as his work reference states. In all that time Artyom never once used physical force or special equipment against citizens; he resolved any problem amicably. He was always courteous with passengers and colleagues, and so he enjoyed a certain authority among his co-workers," say Artyom Anischuk's loved ones. 


A few weeks after the arrest, Artyom's boss, Ye. A. Los, came to see him in the pre-trial detention centre with a letter of resignation.

After the events of 9 August, Artyom could not stand by and watch the killings and the numerous cases of torture. All his actions were aimed at stopping the lawlessness of the security forces. Artyom loves Belarus very much and wants to see it bright, clean, prosperous and, most importantly, free. 


"You can take a lot away from a person, but you cannot take away the desire to fight for a beautiful future" – a drawing Artyom made in the pre-trial detention centre after his sentencing. 

"Artyom is very kind-hearted and has never refused to help people. His biggest hobby is cars. He could spend hours in the garage," - his loved ones say.