Would Order In Baranavichy Remand Prison For “Transit Prisoners” Be Established? :: Charter'97 :: News

This question is to be answered by public servants from the Prosecutor’s Office and Department of the Interior Ministry of Belarus, to which the leader of the All-National Striek Committee of Vendors, member of the Council of Civil Initiatives “Free Belarus” Valery Levaneuski addressed. (The copy of the appeal can be found at http://www.levonevski.net/zone/doc230.htm). The information provided by one of Levaneuski’s cell-mates.

In his complaint Levaneuski tells that many prisoners who follow from one prison or colony into another, are transferred via the remand prison number 6 in Baranavichy. They are to live in Baranavichy remand prison in insanitary conditions for 5-20 days, waiting for their party. They are not allowed to send letters, appeals, they are not allowed to take shower, they are denied medical check, places to sleep and beddings. In the cells of the remand prison number 6 there is a high risk of infection and louses. They are cold and filthy; there are draughts there. All objections concerning these problems are ignored.

On September 7, 2004 court of the Lenin district of Hrodna found Valery Levaneuski, the chairman of the All-National Strike Committee of Vendors, member of the Council of Civil Initiatives “Free Belarus”, and Alyaksandr Vasilyeu, deputy chairman of the All-National Strike Committee of Vendors, guilty of public slander of Belarusian President connected with a grave crime (Article 368 Part 2 of the Criminal Code), and sentenced them to two years of imprisonment of the minimum-security colony. It was written in the verdict that the sentence “Come and say that you are against somebody’s skiing in Austria at your expense”, printed in leaflets, contains insult of honour and dignity of the president of the Republic of Belarus. Besides, Alyaksandr Vasilyeu has been convicted for organizing a mass protest action in Hrodna on May 1, 2004.
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