Maksim Viniarski, who went on dry hunger strike in prison, has seen health condition deteriorated

The health of the coordinator of the European Belarus civic campaign causes concerns.

BelaPAN learnt about that from a human rights activist Julia Sciapanava.

Maksim Viniarski was detained by police on 22 April in Minsk at the exit of the Korona trade center. The police claimed the activist “looked similar to a wanted person”, however already at the police station he was accused of insubordination to policemen and a protocol was composed on his administrative violation. On the same day the judge of the court of Minsk Frunze district Liudmila Lapo found Viniarski guilty and sentenced to a 12-day arrest.

On trial Viniarski, who suffering from a sore throat, felt bad. The ambulance doctors, who arrived, stated that he needed to be taken to a hospital, but the policemen claimed they would take him to an isolation center. In response Viniarski went on dry hunger strike, which he is still taking.

According to Julia Sciapanava, Viniarski feels bad and has a fever. He told her about that in a letter. “All that was done to me by the policemen of the MIA and Frunze district court is a provocation, - the convict’s letter reads. – Such actions are inadmissible, and unless we oppose the system, they will never stop. My actions are thought through and right, I am convinced of the rightness of the position taken and I understand what sometimes has to be sacrificed for it. I am sure of the victory over the system in the situation, since almost any of the possible ways of how the situation may develop will show what a person is worth, who can stand for their beliefs”.

On 25 April Viniarski was visited by his lawyer Volha Biezbarodkina. She confirmed that her client was on a dry hunger strike. After the visit the lawyer wrote a complaint addressed to the head of the isolation center on the subject that there was no light bulb in Viniarski’s cell and therefor no possibility to read in the evening.