Interpellations of the Belarusian Club on tortures and arrests

1) Interpellation of the members of the Belarusian Club to the Minister of the Interior concerning the beating by the police of the arrested peasants Jan and Zmitro Dydyshko, peasants of the village of Lipsk, Kryvoshyn commune, Baranavichy county.

In the first days of April of this year, peasants of the village of Lipsk (Kryvoshyn commune, Baranavichy county) and inhabitants of other nearby villages came to the office of the merchant Tsyrynski in Kryvoshyn for the money owed to them for their work.

Because the office refused to pay the money, and the employees began to behave insultingly toward the creditors, the peasants concerned began to protest against such treatment of their demands. Then armed police arrived and began to beat the people. In dispersing the peasants in this way, they arrested Jan and Zmitro Dydyshko and took them to the "posterunek" (police station), where at midnight they beat them terribly, and put them under arrest.

After two days of arrest they were sent on to Baranavichy, where they were held under arrest for 3 days; from there they were taken to the prison in Slonim. After three days the arrested men were released from prison.

Citing as witnesses, namely: Kanstantyn Malevich, who was likewise beaten, and also Matsvei Mazheika, Aliaksandr Burbitski, Marka Batskalevich and others from the villages of Lipsk, Zaluzhzha and Zalipeni, the undersigned ask the Minister:

1) Is he aware of the above-mentioned lawlessness of the police?

2) Does he intend to conduct an investigation in order to punish the police for beating the arrested men and for the unconstitutional deprivation of liberty of citizens who are Belarusians?

Warsaw, 20 May 1924.

The Interpellants.

2) Interpellation of the members of the Belarusian Club to the Minister of the Interior concerning the release from prison of Michał Kisiel, a resident of the village of Maly Mitskevichy, Lan commune, Nyasvizh county.

The arbitrary rule of the starostas in the Belarusian lands more than once reaches the point of absurdity. Here, the starosta of Nyasvizh deprived of liberty and put in prison for 1 year a 70-year-old Belarusian who, given such advanced years, could no longer think of hiding weapons, but only of a peaceful death… Yet the starosta, with no regard at all for the old man's state of mind, puts him, innocent, in prison, thereby revealing a lack of common sense and of the appropriate culture, traits by which every one of the higher officials should be distinguished.

Below we give the content of the petition submitted to the Sejm by Michał Kisiel, of the village of Maly Mitskevichy, Lan commune, Nyasvizh county:

"In 1923, on 18 September, a detachment of the state police of Nyasvizh county came to my place of residence, looking for my son Jan, who had left my paternal care as a grown man, and whose present whereabouts are unknown to me. On this ground the police searched my farm buildings, namely: in the dwelling house they tore up the floor, smashed the stoves and ruined many things; then they threw out of the barn all the grain, the hay, etc., and did me a great deal of harm, making my life on five morgs critical. In my garden beehives (logs) had stood in one place for a long time, and one of the police said that it would be found under the roof of the hives, and indeed they found two rifles of the Russian system, of which neither I nor anyone in the family knew. The rifles were quite useless, rusty. It is known that our locality was a place of war and was under various authorities, so some hid weapons from the others. On this ground they arrested me, and the Nyasvizh starosta's office sentenced me to a year in prison. And I am an elderly man, at the end of my life, seventy years from my birth, and mercilessly condemned without guilt. My complaint submitted to the Navahrudak Voivodeship was not heeded. Now I have been suffering innocently in the prison in Nyasvizh for more than four months. I therefore have the honor to ask the Legislative Sejm of the Polish Republic, in view of my innocence and old age, to release me from prison, so that I may die in my own native house."

On account of the above, the undersigned ask the Minister: 1) is he aware of the above? 2) does he intend to investigate the case and to release the 70-year-old old man from prison?

Warsaw, 20 May 1924.

The Interpellants.

3) Interpellation of the member of the Sejm F. Yaremich and comrades of the Belarusian Club to the Minister of Justice concerning the beating of the arrested Symon Hryhas and Jan Krush and the dragging out of the judicial investigation for more than 20 months.

1) On 25 August 1922 Symon Hryhas, a resident of the village of Darzheli, Martsinkantsy commune, Hrodna county, was arrested by the state police and tortured in a terrible manner. By the beating and torture wounds were inflicted on his head, from which blood poured. The considerable loss of blood and the torments meant that the tortured man was threatened with a martyr's death; fearing this, the police forced him to drink some kind of brew, from which the unfortunate man fell into a state of madness. After the police had committed this crime, the arrested man was put in the prison in Hrodna, where he is still held. The investigation has been going on for more than 20 months and is not yet finished.

2) The second arrested man, Jan Krush (village of Kupinishki, Martsinkantsy commune, Hrodna county), was likewise beaten by the police from the town of Druskieniki, sits in the prison in Hrodna and to this day has not received an act of accusation.

Citing as witnesses: Kazimir Hryk, Yulian Maziukas, Piotra Valentukevich, Kazimir Mishkinis from the village of Darzheli, and Viktar Valentukevich, St. Artianis, Adam Krus, Jan Kausa and others from the village of Kapinishki, the undersigned ask the Minister: 1) is he aware of the above? 2) does he intend to begin an investigation in order to punish the police for the abuse of the arrested men? 3) does he intend to hasten the end of the investigation in the case of the arrested men, who have been held in prisons for a long time?

Warsaw, 20 May 1924.

The Interpellants.

4) Interpellation of the members of the Belarusian Club to the Minister of Justice and the Minister of the Interior concerning the failure to bring the state police to trial for the torture of Trakhim Rusetski, a peasant of the village of Zalesse, Zhyrovichy commune, Slonim county.

In March 1924 Trakhim Rusetski, a peasant from the village of Zalesse, Zhyrovichy commune, Slonim county, was arrested and brought to the state police station in Zhyrovichy, where the police commandant (Kenderski) and two policemen began to torture him terribly. The abuse of the innocent man and the torments began at 12 o'clock at night. The police commandant himself pressed down on the tortured man's head and, with the help of blankets, would not let him cry out, while the other policemen beat the unfortunate man on the heels with sticks until he lost consciousness. Afterwards they doused him with water and chased him about the ground like a dog, to cause him greater pain, making him set his wounded feet on the floor. After this crime the arrested man was handed over the next day to the investigating judge, who at once released T. Rusetski, illegally arrested, and promised to begin a case against the police for committing violence and torment. Yet a year has passed since the day of the crime, and the judicial case has not moved from its place.

Such police commandants and policemen, who have committed barbarity unheard of in the history of culture and civilization, remain under the care and protection of the uniform of public security in Poland and allow themselves to go on engaging in sadism founded on hatred of the local population. These facts of the torture of Belarusians are shown not only in past years but this year as well. The relevant interpellations of the Belarusian Club say that on 28 March 1924 B. Kedysh, Ul. Sevastsyanovich and I. Lenkevich were tortured by the police in the town of Kuznitsa, Sokółka county, and on 24–27 March 1924 Andrei Kalesnik, St. Drozd and Lashuk, as well as others, were tortured in the town of Nyasvizh.

Citing as witnesses in the case of the torture of T. Rusetski, namely: I. Mikhalchuk, Yazep Rusetski and other residents of the village of Zalesse, the undersigned ask the Ministers: 1) are they aware that the police have not been brought to trial for committing the offense of torturing T. Rusetski? 2) do they intend to conduct an investigation in this case and to bring charges against those guilty of the crime?

Warsaw, 20 May 1924.

The Interpellants.