Frantskevich under pressure to apply for pardon

A political prisoner (who has one kidney) has been thrown to a punishment cell.

Tatyana Frantskevich, the mother of political prisoner Alyaksandr Frantskevich, and a lawyer visited Volchy Nory penal colony. The mother of the political prisoner told charter97.org Alyaksndr Frantskevich, who has his kidney removed after an accident, was  thrown into a punishment cell for refusal to fulfill insulting demands of the prison authorities.

“I visited him because he had been given ten days in the punishment cell. The term expired yesterday. Fortunately, the weather was warm and he felt more or less good there,” Tatyana Frantskevich said.

“Alyaksandr was placed into the punishment cell because he refused to sweep the floor in the cell. It is considered to be a work of low-status inmates, the so called downcasts. But my son has only one kidney. They did not have the right to punish him for such a small fault. The prison administration said they did not think absence of a kidney was a disease.” the mother of the political prisoner stressed.

“He earlier refused to obey humiliating orders in prison, but it's the first time when he has been thrown into the punishment cell for refusal to sweep the floor. I think they want him to surrender, force him to apply for a pardon. They already offered him to ask for a pardon, but he refused,” the mother of the anarchist noted.

“I will send medicines to him. The lawyer says he has no complaints and looks good. But even a simple cold can cause a serious illness,” Tatyana Frantskevich worries.

We remind on May 27, 2011, judge of Zavadski district court Zhanna Khvainitskaya sentenced Alyaksandr Frantskevich to three years in a medium security penal colony. Also, anarchists Mikalauy Dzyadok and Ihar Alinevich were given 4.5 and 8 years in prison respectively. The political prisoners were accused of attacking several governmental and private buildings and throwing Molotov cocktails at the Russian embassy on August 30, 2010.