Belarusian prisoner tries to cut own throat in court hearing

A Belarusian prisoner detained in a crackdown on protests tried to cut his own throat during a court hearing on Tuesday after being told his family and neighbours faced prosecution if he did not plead guilty, media, activists and a witness said.

A Belarusian prisoner detained in a crackdown on protests tried to cut his own throat during a court hearing on Tuesday after being told his family and neighbours faced prosecution if he did not plead guilty, media, activists and a witness said.Footage by RFE/RL showed 41-year-old Stepan Latypov lying on a wooden bench inside a prisoner's cage in the courtroom in the capital Minsk, with police officers standing over him and onlookers screaming.A second video showed Latypov being carried out to a waiting ambulance with what appeared to be blood spots on his shirt. Local media and the human rights group Viasna-96 said he was still alive.Latypov's father Sergei had appeared as a witness in court on Tuesday, according to Belarusian human rights group Viasna-96 and Irina, a friend of Latypov.Latypov addressed his father in court, saying he had been held in a torture cell for 51 days, and warned his father to prepare for a similar fate. He then stabbed himself in the throat with an object resembling a pen, Viasna-96 reported."Stepan got up, took his face mask off, and said: 'Father, police officers told me I will be put into the confinement cell and my relatives and neighbours will be prosecuted under criminal law if I do not confess'," Irina told RFE/RL.Stepan then "took something white in his teeth, and started literally to cut his throat. Everyone started screaming. Police officers could not open the defendant's cage for a while. He fell unconscious. We were taken out of the courtroom."The health ministry said a 41-year-old man was in a stable condition after medics treated his wound in hospital under anaesthetic. It said the man injured himself in a courtroom. The interior ministry spokeswoman could not be reached for comment. More heartbreaking pictures from Belarus today. Political prisoner Stepan Latypov slit his throat in the courtroom. His last words were: “Dad, they said if I don’t plead guilty, they go after my family and neighbors”. pic.twitter.com/dkWbqE5Bmk