“Vitya, don't worry. You acted like a decent person. This is how we brought you up”
Marked with a red mark hit especially hard
Marked with a red mark hit especially hard
Victor Aktistov, a 20-year-old student at the Institute of Entrepreneurial Activity, an artist, was sentenced to two and a half years in a penal colony for “resisting police officers”. During the investigation, he was successively charged under three different articles of the Criminal Code. These August events drastically changed the life of this young man and his family. Victor's mother, Valentina Aktistova has agreed to tell this story.
Victor was detained by riot police officers near Hotel Yubileiny
On the eve of the elections, on August 8, we went to our native town Novolukoml - me and all my children: Nastya, Dima and Vitya. On the morning of August 9, we voted. The elder children and I returned to Minsk on the same day, and Vitya stayed in Novolukoml to meet some old classmates. On August 10, he returned to Minsk around 6 p.m.. He headed straight to his friend’s place that was near Nemiga. By that time metro had stopped working, as had the internet. According to Vitya’s testimony, he walked towards a bus stop, where he saw a crowd of people, and he decided to see what was going on there. Later, when Vitya was already in the Detention Center at Volodarskogo Street, I saw a video on the internet. It shows Vitya just standing on a sidewalk, while riot police officers were detaining some man and escorting him to the police buses. As far as I understand, Vitya wanted to fight the man off, but he was also detained and shoveled into a minibus.
The same night my daughter Nastya went to Partizansky District Department of Internal Affairs. There were police officers in balaclavas standing outside the station, and she asked them where the entrance was. She said that she needed to take one person away. One of the officers started laughing: “It's our job to take people away”. She could have been taken away too (Valentina cannot hold back her tears).
Each day passed in the same manner – we were searching and waiting. On August 12, I filed a police report in Novolukoml (Chashniki district, Vitebsk region) to find out the whereabouts of my son. On August 13, at about 2 a.m. the phone suddenly rang. I picked up the phone. I couldn't say a word.
- Mom, they have released me.
- Vitya, where are you?
- I'm in Zhodino. They have just kicked us out. But people from Zhodino have given us shelter, and they'll take us to Minsk in the morning.
I asked: “Vitya, did they beat you?” He was silent and said: “Yes”. I asked him to send me a photo.
At 6 a.m. on August 13, I left for Minsk. Around 9 a.m. I met my son. It was awful. His head was smashed, his eyes were black with bruises, especially the right one, on his back there were marks left by police batons in the shape of some symbol or hieroglyph, some kind of burns were on his right hand. Later, Vitya said that these were probably not burns. At Partizansky District Department of Internal Affairs the detainees were thrown into police vehicles like firewood – layer over layer, there were several people lying on top of him. That was when something happened to Vitya’s shoulder. His arm was hurt very badly.
I told Vitya that we should get his injuries examined and documented by a doctor. But something was holding me back. On the same day I received a phone call from a Mr. Novikov of the Investigative Committee of Chashniki district. He asked me to come to Novolukoml in connection to my police report regarding my son. He asked: “Has your son been found?” As if they didn't know. He told me to come in to see him and said that I better come together with my son.
On Friday, August 14, I learned from the internet that Minsk hospitals no longer accepted and examined those who had received injuries from the police beatings. In the evening Vitya and I went to Novolukoml. At the police station they did not talk to me about my report and left me to sit and wait in the corridor. They took Vitya away to the office. Vitya had not filed any report or complaint regarding the beatings, so I asked an officer about the what would happen if we took further action; if we went to the Novolukoml medical center and had Vitya’s injuries documented. He replied, that if they were not recorded as injuries sustained at home, the doctors would have to call the police, the police would draw up a report, which would be sent back to Partizansky District Department of Internal Affairs. It became clear that it was useless to have Vitya’s injuries documented by the doctors. It was a vicious circle - the report would be returned to the same place where the victims had been chased through the “corridor” by police batons and were kicked in the face by combat boots.
After the interrogation I asked Vitya:
- What was going on there? What did you tell them?
- I told them everything as it happened, that a riot police officer grabbed me and I punched him in the face.
You know, Vitya is this kind of a man. He is an honest, an absolutely honest person. He will not lie even about little things. He’s a man of absolute honesty! Sometimes his honesty... (Valentina cannot hold back tears). I decided not to go to the medical center to examine and document his injuries, and Vitya and I returned to Minsk. I hoped that the provincial police were different, but they were the same everywhere. I regret very much that we went there. I think Vitya was only arrested because of me.
On September 21, on his way to college, Vitya was detained by two ununiformed men allegedly in connection to his complaint at the medical center about the beatings. Vitya managed to notify his sister while they were on the way to the Investigative Committee. I was beginning my second lesson of the day, when a man from the Investigative Committee called me. He asked the address of my school and said that they would come to pick me up. After the second lesson, they came. When I asked them on what grounds they were taking me away, they waved a sheet of paper in front of my face. It was a search warrant under Article 293 “Mass disorders” (regarding Vitya). How could he have prepared and organized any disorders, if he arrived in Minsk at 6 p.m. on Monday, August 10?
So, we went to my apartment, and they searched the place with two witnesses. Nothing was found. They were looking for red and white flags, assault rifles, machine guns, bombs, books on bomb-making. They confiscated Vitya's laptop, packed it in a plastic bag, drew up a report stating that nothing connected to the criminal case was found. I read and signed it.
In the evening, a lawyer from Minsk City Bar called me. She said that she would defend my son Viktor Leonidovich Aktistov, and that he had been detained under Article 342, “Organization and preparation of activities that grossly violate public order”. I asked why it had been Article 293, “Mass disorders” in the morning, and why there was a different Article, 342, in the evening. She replied that there was no basis in evidence. She said that the police were starting to detain those who had been released on August 13-14.
A few minutes later, the investigator from the Investigative Committee, Lana Gadaeva, called. She said that my son had been detained under Article 342, and that he was in custody in the Detention Center at Okrestina Street. She did not give any details, only saying that she would conduct questioning. The next day we found new lawyers, the indictment remained the same – Article 342 “Organization and preparation of activities that grossly violate public order”.
The next day the lawyers notified me, that there would be an interrogation. The lawyers learned from the Investigative Committee, that Vitya had made a written confession about “resisting a police officer”. The indictment was changed for the third time to Article 363 “Resisting a police officer”. Before the trial, the indictment was again changed - to Article 364 of the Criminal Code “Violence against an internal affairs officer”. On December 30, Leninsky District Court convicted Victor under Article 364 of the Criminal Code for violence against a riot police officer on August 10 and sentenced him to two and a half years in a penal colony.
I feel that they are doing something to them over there, in Zhodino. He has become so timid, so depressed. My son is registered as prone to “hostage-taking and disobeying the prison administration”. He is marked with a red stripe. In a letter, he wrote something even about two red stripes. Now they handcuff him to the bars during all visits.
He wrote to me from Zhodino: “It was all in vain. I acted foolishly, I achieved nothing. I didn't help anyone.” I replied: “Vitya, don't worry. You acted like a decent person. This is how we brought you up. You stood up for a man who did nothing wrong. And that man was freed, he ran away. So, you helped him! Yes, you were detained, but the man ran away... You had motives to act the way you did, didn’t you? To set a man free”. Oh, our Vitya…
We cannot change people of the “system”. I am sure that they have no conscience. They are that type of people. They have been brought up this way for years! So, what can I say to them? Work, people. Work for your own sake, for the good of your family, for your conscience, for your life. We will see what happens next.
You can support Victor,
by sending a letter or postcard to:
Victor Leonidovich Aktistov
Correctional colony # 15. 213105, Mogilev, p / o Veino, Slavgorodskoe highway 183
or via site politzek.
P.S. On September 21, 2020 Victor was detained and charged under Article 293 “Mass disorders” of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus. On the same day the article was changed to Article 342 of the Criminal Code “organization and preparation of activities that grossly violate public order”. On September 24, 2020 Victor made a written confession about resisting a police officer. As a result, his indictment was changed to Article 363 of the Criminal Code “Resistance to a police officer”. Later, it was changed to Article 364 of the Criminal Code “Violence against an internal affairs officer”. The riot police officer was awarded 2,000 rubles [~ 770 USD] in compensation to be paid by the Aktistov family. On December 30, 2020 Leninsky District Court sentenced Victor to two years and six months in a penal colony.
Victor was detained by riot police officers near Hotel Yubileiny