Shooting incident — the new details
Yesterday’s story and the shooting incident didn’t end there. The attacked man’s identity was finally revealed. He is not a journalist, but a campaign activist from Alexander Kazulin’s headquarters. His name is Jury Radzivil (I guess with such a last name, he must be related to a famous Belarusan noble family or their serf people).
Yesterday this man took all the incrimnating evidence — videotapes and photographs that document how four men in black leather jackets attacked him and how one of them opened fire at his car — and came to the police station to report an armed attack by four unknown bandits.
Can you guess what happened next?
(Hint: the country is called Belarus.)
Answer: he was immediately arrested for “resisting police officers.”
Yes, I’m not kidding. Jury Radzivil came to police for help, in order to file a complaint about the shooting incident, brining all the evidence, and he was arrested himself. This is our Belarusan Orwellian 1984 reality. First they shoot at you. Then they jail you when you come to report it.
This is how our police and KGB work. And there are many examples of that. Here’s a fresh case, from today:
A youth activist from “Zubr” Aleh Miacielica (Miatselitsa) just spent 15 days in jail on some made-up charges. He was supposed to be released yesterday. Dozens of people, his friends and fellow activists from “Zubr” gathered in front of the prison, waiting for his release with flowers in their hands. They spent several hours in front of the jail, until someone told them that Miacielica was not there.
Meanwhile, policemen forcefully took him from Minsk to his native village of Bialynichy, hundreds of kilometers away from Minsk. So while his friends were anxiously waiting in front of the jail gates, he was being transported in a police car away from the capital.
In Bialynichy he was let out of the car. Just several minutes after that two men approached him, suddenly fell on the ground and started rolling in the snow in front of him.
At this moment a policeman appeared out of nowehere and said that Miacielica is arrested and will be charged with petty hooliganism for assaulting these two men. The two “beaten up” victims (Shutau and Nizoutsau) turned out to be police officers themselves (surprise, surprise!).
The trial was held in that village today. Visitors, journalists, his lawyer and human right defenders were not admitted to the trial of Miacielica. The judge sentenced him to a 15-day arrest again. That means he’ll be behind bars until the “elections” are over.
One thing must be clear to everyone: there will be no elections in Belarus. This Lukashenka’s circus can not be called “elections” by any standards. Again, in this respect, it greatly saddens me to follow news coverage in the Western media (e.g. Reuters, Euronews) and see how badly they report about Belarus. I really don’t know why it is like that. Maybe, they just don’t have good reporters in Belarus. Maybe, they just don’t care. Maybe, there are some other factors involved. But, the bottom line is that the coverage is totally inadequate.
March 5th, 2006 at 4:32 am
Come on! He goes to the police station to complain?!?!? Like he didn’t know what was happening? Like the cop didn’t tell him to stop? I don’t care if he was trying to do his job or to protect his camera, but what is the point of going back to the station? He wanted the cops who shot at him to be arrested? They shot out his tires, right? What do you expect? The police won’t try to stop you if you run away from them? Come on, normally, you are sharp as a knife but except for the photos which are great, this is totally unnecessary and one-sided propaganda. Its scandal mongering and nothing more and it doesn’t even match your story below.
March 5th, 2006 at 12:35 pm
Dear beinghad:
1) How is he supposed to know that four men in black leather jackets with guns are police officers? They never showed any ID. They were running around, beating up people and yelling obscenities.
2) He is one of the chiefs of Kazulin’s election headquarters, planning the campaign. He can’t just go into hiding. Besides, it’s not right to go into hiding. He didn’t do anything wrong. Why should he hide??
Sorry, but I think your comment doesn’t make much sense.
March 5th, 2006 at 3:01 pm
Here is my question - what was Kozulin doing there and why did he not leave when requested? This is not the first time he gets his ass beaten; last week he tried to pull the same trick at the TV station - comes in uninvited, demands something he’s not entitled to, refuses to leave, gets kicked out but resists in a process and gets a black eye (or in case of his lawyer - pepper spray).
The above story doesn’t make any sense whatsoever: too many plot holes and no evidence other than hearsay.
March 5th, 2006 at 6:13 pm
Toby, what holes? That “Zubr” boy was supposed to be released in Minsk. Dozens of people were waiting for him, while he was being secretly (and illegaly) transported 150 kilometers (~ 100 miles) away from the capital. That’s unheard of.
And in the village there are witnesses that saw what happened with those two police officers who staged that circus. Belarus’ RFE/RL correspondent talked with them.
As for Kazulin, I don’t know why he does that. I guess he wants more media coverage. But one thing is clear, Dzmitry Paulichenka (an alleged killer, btw) is very close to Lukashenka, and he wouldn’t touch Kazulin, if Lukashenka wouldn’t tell him something. I’m very sure about that.
March 5th, 2006 at 7:37 pm
Toby>>week he tried to pull the same trick at the TV station - comes in uninvited, [b]demands something he’s not entitled to[/b], refuses to leave, gets kicked out but resists in a process and gets a black eye (or in case of his lawyer - pepper spray).
U r not right. He was invited - he entere that presscenter to accomplish pressconference. And they were refusing to let him in.
As for Allbelarusian gathering - he collected 150 000 signings. Isn’t it enough reason to be a delegate at supposingly Allbelarusian Gathering? And there is Election codex which state that all candidates should have equal possibilities?
March 5th, 2006 at 9:27 pm
I would have to look at that link of RFE/RL correspondent. Zubr website mentions the incident - pardon my skepticism but my problem with Zubr is that they have an agenda to pursue and that’s what they are paid for by the West. The biggest hole in the story is what Oleg Metelica did to end up getting 15 days to begin with? If he was writing graffitti ‘dostal’ on either state or private property (which is something Zubr loves to do), he would get fined or jailed regardless in ANY country.
The other question is why go through elaborate process of staging an assault on two men? Why not one? Why not a woman? Here is what I think - Metelica is safer off in jail. The sooner the election passes, the better off he will be. 15 days is a small price to pay for his own safety. Think of it as a DWI :)
Stolik
There is a strict election codex and I am sure there is something in there about civilized discourse in the election campaign. Ripping up a picture of the President on state television falls outside of that realm. Kozulin scares me; he’s the kind of guy who will literally start throwing mud. I wouldnt put them in the same room with Lukashenko…
But it should would make for great entertainment!
March 6th, 2006 at 12:05 am
Toby: Perhaps it wasn’t the most delicate act, but I don’t think it’s illegal to tear apart a newspaper.
I also would like to note that this was the first time in 5 (five!) years an opposition view was aired by the state television. In purely mathematical terms it means that in order to answer 20 000 (twenty thousand) hours of virtually non-stop lies and propaganda, he had 1/2 hour.
March 6th, 2006 at 7:46 am
The opposition view has been known for quite some time - and it’s not a subtle one at that and nothing new has been said by Kozulin. He is a shady figure that does not make much sense to me. What I can say is that Milinkevich does not hesitate to speculate on Kozulin’s antics. The latter plays the role of a pseudo-martyr.
April 11th, 2006 at 10:36 am
[…] Some other examples I cared to write about: • EuroNews Coverage — and their headlines • Shooting incident — and the EuroNews coverage • Top news on CNN — no news on EuroNews […]
April 16th, 2006 at 4:57 pm
[…] Some other previous examples I cared to write about: • Russian EuroNews: “EU not happy” • Russian EuroNews Coverage — and their headlines • Shooting incident — and Russian EuroNews coverage • Top news on CNN — no news on EuroNews […]
February 1st, 2008 at 4:47 am
Thanks for sharing
February 7th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
I’d prefer reading in my native language, because my knowledge of your languange is no so well. But it was interesting! Look for some my links:
March 24th, 2008 at 2:35 am
I’d prefer reading in my native language, because my knowledge of your languange is no so well.
August 11th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
:)