During the press conference in Minsk on 28 February, Ales Michalevič announced that he was subjected to torture at the KGB pre-trial detention centre. He also said that the condition of his release was a written commitment to collaborate with the KGB.

According to Michalevič, the KGB detainees were tortured in the following ways: masked persons used to hang him by hands in hand-cuffs, which resulted in arm twisting, put him in the cold, and forced to stand against the wall for 40 minutes, left the electric light on 24 hours a day, coloured the floor with acetone-based paint forcing the prisoners to stay in the cell. The lawyers were not allowed to visit their clients thus the latter were interrogated without legal assistance.

Others speaking
After Michalevič’s public statement, the other KGB detainees and their relatives started speaking about the tortures at the detention centre. Darya Korsak, the wife of Aliaksandr Atroshchankau, conveyed that her husband had confirmed: the KGB prisoners are tortured in the same way as Michalevič had described.

Valery Kavaleuski who was detained by the KGB on 25-28 December also confirmed information provided by Michalevič during the press-conference of “No Fear” campaign. Kavaleuski does not exclude possibilities of other KGB prisoners being exposed to such tortures as well.

KGB “does not believe”
At the same time, Aliaksandr Antanovich, the head of Information and Public Relations centre of the KGB, denies Michalevič’s statement about the conditions of custody at the KGB detention facility.

“What concerns the torture, that does not correspond to the facts”, – he said.

According to Antanovich, he can give more detailed information after he becomes familiar with all materials of Michalevič’s case.

Public reaction
The exposure to torture is prohibited by international agreements as well as the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus, and considered to be a serious offence. That was the reason for human rights defenders’ and public’s concern and demands to KGB detention centre inspection.

Belarusian Helsinki Committee issued an appeal to the Prosecutor-General Office, insisting on thorough investigation into the facts of the politician being tortured.

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It should be noted that the Prosecutor-General office has already inspected the conditions of the KGB detention facilities in December 2010 and January 2011.

The Prosecutor-General, Ryhor Vasilevich, announced on 27 January that no complaints from the ex-candidates for presidency or their authorised representatives had been filed.

In December 2010, a group of Belarusian human rights defenders sent a report to the UN concerning the international obligations of Belarus under the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

It was already at that time, when the human rights defenders began to show their concern over the torture situation and expressed their willingness to solve that issue together with Prosecutor-General Office, MIA and other state institutions.

People accused in participation in the “mass riots”, and who are now at large, also sent an appeal to the Prosecutor-General of the Republic of Belarus, asking to initiate an impartial and independent investigation into the facts of cruel treatment of the detainees, organise an inspection of the condition in KGB detention centres and drop politically motivated charges.

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