Riot militia broke ribs of participants of Freedom Day demonstration

Doctors of Minsk hospital No 3 diagnosed Andrei Babitski, activist of the civil campaign “European Belarus,” with “closed displaced fracture of eighth rib.” The youth activist and dozens of other participants of the demonstration on 25 March were beaten up brutally by riot militiamen. Emergency brigade, called to the Savetski district internal affairs department, refused to help the oppositionist.

“An emergency doctor examined me in the militia department and said I needn’t medical help. I complained I felt severe pain when breathing in, but he didn’t render help and refused to take me to hospital for an x-ray to be made. I asked him to say his name, but he didn’t say. I know it was the brigade No 955.

After the trial, where I was fined, I myself took an emergency to get to a hospital. They took me to hospital, I had an x-ray made, they said to wait a little. Then not a traumatic surgeon, but a nurse came up to me, she was angry and said: “You have nothing!”. She didn’t even showed a snap to me. I said I felt pain, so there must be a reason for it. She called a surgeon and he said I had nothing serious, if I wanted medical care to be rendered, I should have gone to a hospital of my district. I said I lived in another town. “So go there,” he answered. But it continued to pain, and finally I went to Minsk policlinic No 3,” Andrei Babitski said to the Charter’97 press center.

Andre Babitski reminds how his rib was fractured by riot militiamen on 25 March:

“They didn’t let us go to Yakub Kolas Square. When many people gathered, riot militiamen and militiamen said us: go to Victory Square and use metro to get to Academy of Science. But the road to Victory Square was blocked! We found ourselves in a circle. People were pushed, they began to fall down and panic. People said it looked like tragedy on Nyamiha. Then riot militiamen formed a corridor and began to drag us and pack into a bus. People in civvies showed whom riot militiamen needed to detain.

Riot militiamen beat us in the bus. They made us knee, keep head down and clasp hand behind the head. I remember hit at ribs. I heard that they beat everyone who let arms down, or raised the head.

When we came we saw many of us were beaten up, a lad had his arms seriously injured, it hung loose, he couldn’t move it. Someone had a torn ear…”