On February 19 the court of Kastrychnitski district of Vitsebsk sentenced Surhan to 6 months of incarceration for alleged resistance to police. He was also to pay 2.5 mln rubles to compensate moral damages to a policeman Syarhei Dudkevich.

The incident which ended in the lawsuit took place on September 3, 2009. Aleh Surhan and his younger brother Taras were detained in the bus stop near Vitsebsk medical university. At that moment someone placed white-red-white flag on the building then.

In the report drawn up in the police department of Kastrychnitski district of Vitsebsk, Surhan was charged with placing the flag there, however later that report disappeared, and a new one emerge: Surhan allegedly was in the public place in the state of alcohol intoxication, used foul language and bit a policeman’s finger during detention.

Surhan himself stated that he was tortured in the police department, which was confirmed by a medical examination.

Information: Radio Svaboda, Charter’97