Vasily Parfyankou refused to work for jailers

The political prisoner was punished by 5 days in a disciplinary cell for his denial to come to “voluntary work”.

Vasily Parfyankou, a prisoner of the detention facility in Horki, has spent another 5 days in the disciplinary cell in prison. The political prisoner has told about that to an activist Volha Mikalaichyk, whom he sends letters regularly, and explained the reason for this punishment.

“I was invited for a conversation with administration, and the prison governor said that I was to sign a document for participation in “voluntary work”, no more disobedience from me. Vasily answered that he had been imprisoned though he was innocent, and he had not signed any documents, and was not going to sign any of them, “no use to address me, I won’t work for you.” Then the prison governor asked: “Will you hold on for long?” Vasily answered: “Long enough, it will last your time,” and was sentenced to 5 days in a disciplinary cell, Mikalaichyk said to Radio Svaboda.

Parfyankou has also written that he reads a lot, he listens to a radio, but there is no TV set in his cell. The political prisoner is not allowed to subscribe for newspapers, but editorial offices of independent newspapers send their newspapers to him. Recently Vasily Parfyankou got letters of solidarity from Lithuania and Sweden, and he was greatly pleased with that, Volha Mikalaichyk says. However she is disappointed that not many people from Belarus write Vasil:

“We are going to launch a solidarity campaign “Write to Parfyankou!” It is not acceptable that friends forget about Vasily and show little support to him. We should not leave in the lurch such people as Parfyankou.”

As said by Volha Mikalaichyk, one can also send books for the prisoner to the prison in Horki: “He is interested in travel books, books about cars, modern detective stories.”

Vasily Parfyankou is serving a one year imprisonment term for violation of the rules of preventive supervision. He was put under supervision after he was accused for the events of December 19, 2010. Human rights activists of Belarus believe that Parfyankou is persecuted for his political activities.