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Political Prisoner Mikhail Zhamchuzhny Acknowledged “Person, Inclined To Extremism”

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Political Prisoner Mikhail Zhamchuzhny Acknowledged “Person, Inclined To Extremism”
MIKHAIL ZHAMCHUZHNY
PHOTO: RFE/RL

The founder of the "Platform Innovation" is serving his sentence in a penal colony №14 in Novasady.

The founder of the "Platform Innovation" Mikhail Zhamchuzhny, serving his sentence in a penal colony №14 in Novasady, wrote in his letter to the human rights activist Tatsiana Raviaka that he was acknowledged a person inclined to extremism, HRC Viasna reports.

“On June 17 I was unexpectedly called to the secure department and the head of the department Shetko offered me to sign the paper saying that I would have to come for additional checks twice per day, otherwise it would be a violation of the regime. Naturally, I asked on what grounds? Because during the half of the year that I have spent in the penal colony I had no violations. He answered that a field officer Kryshtal has drawn a report against me stating that I was an extremist, that they would attach a red label on my chest and that I would be transferred to a different place for sleep. I didn`t see the report, there were no commissions or trials on such a serious accusation. Moreover, there are no facts proving my extremist activity neither here, nor outside the prison, nor in the detention center №2,” – he writes.

Mikhail Zhamchuzhny also writes that in a private conversation with the workers of the penal colony 14 he was said that he was given the status of a person inclined to extremism allegedly because he was distributing “prohibited literature”, precisely two books by Svetlana Alexievich, among the prisoners.

It should be noted that in April this year Mikhail Zhamchuzhny’s incarceration conditions have been softened, since he hadn’t violated the regime.

“The funny side of the situation, noted by all of the prisoners, is that I'm being under “soft conditions” and I’m entitled to an additional food parcel as a stimulation for good behavior in the 2nd quarter,” - the political prisoner wrote.

Mikhail Zhamchuzhny also thanked Tatsiana Raviaka because she had sent him a state duty payment receipt.

“I have filed here 3 applications for payment and there has been no response. I received an explanation from a special department employee that the supervisory appeal in the colony is permitted only a year after the sentencing. I understand that it is the violation of the Criminal Code and the Constitution, but I cannot do anything. A complaint is not accepted for consideration without payment,” – Zhamchuzhny wrote.

We remind that in July 2015, Mikhail Zhamchuzhny was convicted by the Vitsebsk regional court to 6 years of imprisonment in a strict regime colony. On October 23, the judicial board on criminal cases of the Supreme Court considered the cassation appeal and sentenced Zhamchuzhny to a more severe punishment – six and a half years in prison. He was found guilty of willful disclosure of information constituting an official secret and illegal acquisition of means to obtain secret information.

Belarusian human rights activist Mikhail Zhamchuzhny has been recognized as a political prisoner.

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