Anti-government protesters freed from a detention centre in the Belarusian capital Minsk spoke on Thursday of having suffered beatings, cramped conditions and starvation rations.
Armenian citizen Vartan Grigoryan, who was detained and injured during recent protests against the presidential election results, poses for a picture outside a detention centre in Minsk, Belarus August 13, 2020. The man gave an explanation that he hadn't participated in the protests or clashes and arrived at the detention centre in search of his confiscated documents. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko
Sergei, one of the freed detainees, said there had been 28 people in a cell that would normally hold five. Prisoners took turns to sleep, he said, and were given a single loaf of bread to share out over two days. Reuters could not independently verify his or other accounts and a spokeswoman for the interior ministry declined to comment.
Lukashenko has described protesters as criminals and unemployed trouble-makers and said anyone breaking the law will be punished severely.“I was seized, beaten, taken to prison and beaten again. After that, I felt bad and was taken to the hospital by ambulance.”“We hear screams every night, terrible screams, for a very long time.
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