Belarusians complained about the actions of law enforcement officers during non-«political» detentions. They claimed that officers exceeded their authority in their work. But after 2020, cases began to be opened against the complainants themselves. They were tried for giving «false» testimony. In the three years of the existence of the bank of court decisions, 12 cases were found. We asked the BelPol (team of former law enforcement officers who are now in opposition to Belarusian regime) to comment on them.
The text was prepared with the support of the Free Belarus Center.
An investigator from the Volkovysk Department of the Investigative Committee arrived at the hospital at the request of an employee of the regional consumer cooperative branch. The victim ended up there after being detained. The worker said that two traffic police officers took him to the Regional Department of Internal Affairs for proceedings under Art. 19.6 of the Administrative Code «Knowingly false report».
According to the man, in the official car, the traffic police officers pulled his hat over his eyes and hit him in the face with their palms at least twice. In the office of the Regional Department of Internal Affairs, he was repeatedly kicked in the head and legs, lifted and thrown to the floor, and one of the officers choked him. Also — at least four slaps in the face.
But the investigation against the traffic police officers was terminated, and the beaten man was put on trial — for knowingly false denunciation. In court, both traffic police officers stated that physical force and handcuffs were used against the accused because he resisted. The video recorders did not record the beatings. The man was sentenced to three years of so called «home chemistry» (restricted freedom).
How often are people punished for false denunciation?
Another 11 trials for giving false testimony against law enforcement officers, following an investigation into abuse of authority, were found while collecting material in the bank of court decisions, which operated from 2021 to 2024. Now the bank is unavailable, as are most of the decisions from there. The mechanism looks like this: people complained about violence and excessive force. Some of the complainants were drunk at the time of the incident. After the investigation, the case of abuse of office was closed. And a criminal case for knowingly false denunciation was opened against those who testified. As a rule, they were sentenced to one or two years of «chemistry». Sometimes — imprisonment with a deferred sentence.
Article 400. Knowingly false denunciation
1. Knowingly false denunciation of a crime is punishable by a fine, or arrest, or restriction of liberty for up to three years, or imprisonment for the same term.
2. The same act, combined with an accusation of a grave or especially grave crime, or with the artificial creation of evidence of accusation, or committed for mercenary motives, is punishable by restriction of liberty for up to five years or imprisonment for the same term.
False or not false — it’s difficult to prove
The article for giving false testimony was used quite rarely, a representative of the association of former law enforcement officers BelPol, who was an investigator before August 2020, told Hrodna.life. He personally sent a case under this article only once in five years of practice, and in his district it was the first in «many years». «Then they even held a special off-site training session, inviting students, because it was a very rare case», — the man said.
Why is the article rarely applied? «[It is believed that] a person is mistaken when he writes this statement. That is, he thinks that they violated something there, but in fact they did not. There is no responsibility for this [misconception]. And the corpus delicti immediately disappears», — the expert explains.
— It takes enormous effort to prove that a person made a false statement, and he knew from the beginning that he was making a false statement. That is, you understand, you have to get inside a person’s head, and also put it on paper and prove it. Because of this, this is a very rare corpus delicti. Most often, there are far more such crimes across the country. But they are simply not sent to court, because investigators are afraid of acquittals. And the cases are closed due to lack of evidence.
The ex-investigator does not undertake to assert that there is a tendency to increase — the issue needs to be investigated.
Could the law enforcement officer have been held accountable before?
A BelPol representative told Hrodna.life that he investigated approximately 30 cases a month, including 2−3 cases of abuse of authority by law enforcement officers. «Before the 2020th year, no one stood on ceremony with them. Everyone was prosecuted for any illegal actions», — the source believes. Among such actions are physical violence, falsification of evidence — signatures and protocols, bribes, and others.
To exclude bias, the case of a police officer is considered by the Investigative Committee. The case of an investigator is handled by the Investigative Committee of another district or a higher structure. If it’s a prosecutor’s office employee — another division of the prosecutor’s office. Superficial investigations are excluded, the source believes: «This is the responsibility of the person conducting the investigation. He will never want to cover for anyone».
There is authority for violence
As for the use of force, the former investigator also dealt with similar materials. «Usually it was really alcohol intoxication. A person behaves defiantly, impudently, and, in fact, there is no excess. He (the law enforcement officer — Hrodna.life) has the authority to use physical violence. As a rule, many begin to write complaints. They remain at the stage of verification material, consideration and refusal».
CHAPTER 5. Article 26. Conditions and limits of the use of physical force, special means, combat and special equipment, the use and use of weapons
In all cases of the use of physical force, special means, combat and special equipment, the use and use of weapons, an officer of the internal affairs bodies must act, striving to cause the least harm to the life, health, honor and dignity of citizens, the property of citizens and organizations, state property, and is also obliged to take measures to immediately provide the victims with medical and other necessary assistance.
An officer of the internal affairs bodies shall not be liable for harm caused as a result of the use of physical force, special means, combat or special equipment, the use or use of weapons, if the use of physical force, special means, combat or special equipment, the use or use of weapons were carried out in accordance with the requirements of this Law.
«You understand — they are on special duty with special means. The contingent is of various kinds. There is such a „fear“. They may „fear“. He reached into his pocket — poses a threat, did not comply with the lawful demands of the officer. They begin to detain — he begins to resist. You perform special techniques — you twisted him too hard, broke his arm, joints. These are not the consequences that are pursued by our law. If we take the footage that we saw in 2020 — when a person is lying on the ground and does not pose any threat, and seven of them are beating him — this would be easily qualified», — the former investigator explains.
Security officials abused turning off cameras, a BelPol representative told Hrodna.life. But wiping fingerprints, putting pressure on experts — that’s «too much». «The video camera is often absent. Or a moment inconvenient for the applicant is filmed, and inconvenient moments for the employees are absent. We, as investigators, were always outraged by this. As a result, the words of two or three employees — and one citizen who is drunk». Video recordings in the police department, pre-trial detention center can also be deleted. Investigators wrote submissions (submissions on the elimination of circumstances contributing to the commission of crimes, regulated by Article 199 of the Criminal Procedure Code — Hrodna.life).
Problems with complaints from employees on the «front line» arise constantly, said the ex-investigator. Therefore, they know what needs to be provided in such a case. While the detainee is in the temporary detention center, a security official can inflict bodily harm on himself, tear his uniform, tear off his shoulder strap. And claim that the person did it during the arrest. It is impossible for the investigator to understand exactly how this was done. «Try to prove that this is a criminal offense. Such verification materials end in nothing», — the ex-investigator said about the experience before 2020.
Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of December 16, 2004 N 12
… violence can be expressed in beatings, infliction of physical pain, bodily harm, as well as in a real threat of such actions. Intentional infliction of bodily harm of other severity, torture, as well as negligent infliction of bodily harm or death as a result of violence are covered by part 3 of Article 426 of the Criminal Code.
What can a security official be imprisoned for?
A source of the Hrodna.life editorial office remembers two cases of prosecution for abuse of office that reached the court in five years of work. These were the falsification of evidence and the attempt by the investigator and the expert to reclassify grievous bodily harm into light injuries — inflicted by riot police officers. It is worth noting that there may also be cases when, following a complaint from security officials, they were brought to disciplinary, not criminal, responsibility. The most severe punishments are for bribes, in second place — falsifications, and further — bodily harm.
It is not customary to publicize criminal cases against security officials, the ex-investigator explains. Unless they leak to the press. Or — the crimes were committed publicly and they are being talked about. But the public is not interested in them, the expert believes.
What after 2020?
In general, the ex-investigator said, it was not customary for security officials to write statements, even if their rights were actually violated. They did not benefit from this, but they had to travel to interrogations to another investigator in another district for six months, and then go to court. This is «not necessary». But the ex-investigator admits that in the «legal lawlessness» that has formed after 2020, the situation has changed. He suggests that lawlessness has passed from the «political» sphere to others. The anonymization of security officials also played a role.
«We understand perfectly well that a separate class has indeed been allocated — security officials. And they are already in their zone of responsibility. Has impartiality been preserved? I’m not 100% sure».
Two cases in the whole country
From the bank of court decisions, it is known about two cases of conviction of security officials for abuse of office (Article 426 of the Criminal Code) in three years. Here is one of them. The district police officer did not deal with administrative cases, did not look for the perpetrators in these cases, and violated the deadlines for making decisions.
Therefore, he signed for 14 people in the interrogation and preventive conversation protocols. Later, he dismissed administrative cases by issuing warnings. So people became «violators» for allegedly making noise in the apartment, drinking alcohol on the street, and knowingly making a false report. The district police officer entered this data into the Unified State Database of Offenses. Thus, he violated the rights and interests of people and undermined the authority of the authorities. Their guilt was not proven — some simply had similar surnames, and someone no longer lived in this area. The district police officer had no right to issue warnings to them, which means he exceeded his authority.
In court, it became known that the district police officer was afraid of losing his bonus and receiving disciplinary action for low performance at work. And also — he wanted to maintain the image of an executive and conscientious employee. It is known that he took the oath in 2000. He justified himself by the fact that there were many vacant positions at the first site and he worked there alone. There was a heavy workload that he could not cope with. There were a lot of people at the second site where he moved to work. Colleagues who testified in court disagreed: the workload was doable.
«This does not justify anything, but we have a stick system. If the person is guilty, you sit, hammer as you want, and send this case to court», — explains the source of Hrodna.life why security officials could falsify protocols.
It is known that the facts of falsification of documents were established by the Internal Security Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus. This was reported by the prosecutor’s offices of the districts. Probably, the case began with the fact that an employee in the military unit was asked why he concealed the fact of being brought to administrative responsibility. It turned out that he knew nothing about the involvement and was not familiar with the district police officer. Then they began to check the handwriting and calls by numbers. The district police officer was fired. Before the verdict was pronounced, he got a job as a security guard. Later, he was sentenced to three years in a general regime colony with a fine of 300 basic units (then — 12,000 rubles).
Will the traffic police who beat the worker be held accountable?
The worker of the regional consumer cooperative branch has a chance to punish the security officials. He appealed the verdict in the Hrodna Regional Court.
From the new consideration, it was possible to find out that the man was refused admission to the isolation ward due to visible significant bodily injuries. The doctors decided to hospitalize him. He also had a bruise and a ruptured eardrum. And in the recordings from the registrar, breaks occur precisely when the accused was beaten. But this is on the video recording from outdoor surveillance cameras.
The court’s decision on perjury was overturned and sent for a new trial. The further fate of the consideration is still unknown. In case of acquittal of the worker and a new investigation for his beating, the traffic police officers face up to 10 years in prison.