Ales Byalyatski thrown into punishment cell

A political prisoner has been placed into a disciplinary cell.

The information was received by Viasna human rights centre.

Human rights activists are concerned about the increased pressure on Ales Byalyatski.

Byalyatski, who was sentenced to 4.5 years in a penal colony, received three disciplinary sanctions since March till June 2012. He was deprived of a long-term meeting (one of two meetings per year). Ales was declared a persistent offender of prison rules in late June 2012. This made impossible to apply the Law on Amnesty to him. The monthly allowance he can spend on food and articles of daily necessity was decreased from 5 to 1 basic unit (from 500,000 to 100,000 Belarusian rubles).

Byalyatski had two disciplinary sanctions in August 2012: he was deprived of a food parcel  (one of two parcels he can receive per year) and a short-term meeting (one of two meetings he can have per year).

On Ales Byalyatski's 50th  birthday, a former inmate of the Babruisk penal colony told Pavel Sevyarynets about pressure on Byalyatski from the prison administration.