“Krumkachy” Minsk football players beaten during arrest, one of them has a vertebral fracture

How are they, and what will happen next?

31 August 2020, 10:37 | SPORT.TUT.BY / Tribuna.com
Source: SPORT.TUT.BY

Director of FC “Krumkachy” Minsk Oleg Davidovich told SPORT.TUT.BY about the state of the arrested football players Sergei Kozeka and Pavel Rassolko and what the club will do next.

Why were the players arrested?

The football players were arrested during protests in Minsk on 30 August. According to the club’s director, they were accused of attacking a police minibus. Note that the minibus was not properly marked, and the people in it were not in uniform. This moment was captured on video:

The club members said that the arrested players did not participate in that episode.

We have collected a lot of videos where it is clear that the guys did not participate [in the incident with the minibus]. In fact, they initially stood on the opposite side of the street. There was an attempt to arrest them near the minibus, but Pavel said that they were football players and were coming back from a training session. He even had a backpack with a sweaty football uniform. They were released and then went through Gorodskoy Val street to Romanovskaya Sloboda street. Two military cordons passed, and the third one swooped in on them and beat them up. Allegedly, the football players matched the suspect profile of those who participated in the mess on the avenue (with the minibus).

After that, the players were sent to the Oktyabrsky district police office.

Official report of the Ministry of Internal Affairs after the arrest

Here is what was stated on this incident yesterday in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

“Today, on 30 August, at about 2:40 pm near Independence Square in Minsk, a crowd of people lashed out at a police vehicle and damaged it. The law enforcement vehicle and the officers who were in it ensured the protection of public order during unauthorized mass events.”

With the help of improvised means, the lawbreakers broke the windshield and damaged the side parts of the car. At the moment three people have been detained and taken to the Leninsky district police office of the capital.

Among the detainees was a football coach, born in 1986; a member of the fan movement of the famous football club, born in 1993. Both had been held liable for administrative infractions multiple times in the past.

Note that Sergei Kozeka who was born in 1986, among other things, works as a school coach, and Pavel Rassolko was born in 1993.

What happened next

The director of the club Oleg Davidovich said that Sergei Kozeka is now in city hospital №4  with a vertebral fracture. He was sent there from the police office, handcuffed and under escort, at night, and Rassolko is still in the police office. We also know that Sergei has a right kidney contusion, a closed abdominal injury, and lower back contusions.

As one of the founders of the club, Vladislav Mayorovsky, told us, he personally witnessed how Kozeka was taken by an ambulance.

He looked bad, otherwise the ambulance would not have taken him. There was no visible damage on the face. He could barely walk.

The lawyer talked to them until three in the morning. The club collected video materials proving that the players did not participate in clashes with law enforcement officers. For this reason, the players should be released without trial, the director said.

In his comments for SPORT.TUT.BY Oleg Davidovich noted that they were treated courteously in the police office, but the players were injured during the arrest. Kozeka will miss at least a month of his football practice.

In today’s training session, the players will be deciding whether the team should participate in the match against “Dynamo” Minsk.

After receiving forensic medical examination data, a decision will be made whether the players will contact law enforcement agencies.

It should be noted that earlier “Krumkachy” Minsk attended the match with “Khimik” Svetlogorsk in “We are with the people” T-shirts, and, as a result, they received a warning from the Belarusian Football Federation.

“Krumkachy” Minsk.
Source: SPORT.TUT.BY

What does the Chief Administration of Internal Affairs say now?

Natalia Ganusevich, a spokeswoman for the Minsk Chief Administration of Internal Affairs, said that Sergey Kozeka has already returned from the hospital to the police office. The Chief Administration of Internal Affairs has no information about his fractured vertebra.

It is reported that the players are suspects in a criminal case. Apart from that, an administrative process has been started on the fact of their participation in an unauthorized event.