Ivan Shutko: I was kept in one cell with criminals

Today on 19 March Ivan Shutko has been released. He had been arrested for the solidarity picket held in Barysau for political prisoner Andrei Sannikov.

“They told me to leave my apartment and go outside because I was supposed to act as a witness. When I went out I was immediately taken to the police station. After one day that I spent in the temporary isolator cell, judge on watch Gavrylovich sentenced me to 10 day-arrest for the solidarity picket,” Ivan told the press-service of the European Belarus.

Ivan was not placed in a cell with prisoners sentenced for administrative crimes. Instead he was kept together with criminals. Food for three cell-mates was served on one plate. This is what people have to go through for congratulating Andrei Sannikov on his birthday.

“Such things won’t break us, they only make us stronger,” Shutko says. “And solidarity pickets for the political prisoners should not stop even for a minute.”