One year of Aliaksandar Kazulin’s life :: Charter'97 :: News

Minsk Municipal Court sentenced ex-candidate for the presidential post Aliaksandar Kazulin to 5,5 years of imprisonment in a Vitsiebsk colony on 19 September 2006. One year has passed since then. Kazulin’s friends and family have attempted to impeach the verdict but never succeeded. The Belarusian justice believes that Kazulin is guilty of hooliganism and organization of street riots which is proved with a range of evidences, hence the case was closed.

Kazulin’s family and friends, in their turn, consider the verdict groundless and illegal.

“This time has been very hard both for Kazulin himself and for his family and co-workers,” the politician’s wife Iryna Kazulina said in an interview to “Polish Radio”.

-- This year has been lasting very slowly for me. It seems that the life before the sentence ended so long ago. I think from time to time that more than a year has passed ever since, and we are still alive, our grandson is growing up. Our elder daughter works, the younger became a 5th year student of Belarusian State University, but she will have problems with recruitment. A print shop refused to edit visit cards for my elder daughter because of her surname - Kazulina. You can imagine how much fear there is in the people. In the rest, our lives are going, we’re writing letters. I called the colony the other day and they said we would have a long-term date in November, and my husband’s birthday is on November 25 - perhaps, we will be allowed to meet on that day. And a short-term can be arranged only in the next January, because he was deprived of the right to meet with his family.

- You must receive certain information from the colony. How is Mr. Kazulin doing and why was he deprived of this right?

- I think that was the preparation for the amnesty which is being discussed broadly now. And again they say Kazulin can be amnestied. But I see it very well that he’s not likely to be included there, as he has just received the third warning which they can refer to, and refuse to give him any amnesty remissions. And the reason was ridiculous: he lay down on the bed during the lunch time and was at once deprived of the right to see his family, which was the third warning.

-- Your elder daughter met with the European Union states Ambassadors the other day. What is the diplomats’ attitude towards the situation around Mr. Kazulin?

- They support us and invite to meetings from time to time to get the recent information. But unfortunately we don’t hear so much from Aliaksandar, since he doesn’t write letter very often. And it is very difficult to find out something from the colony’s administration: their usual reply is that everything is fine. I know that Ambassadors apply for visits to the colony, but nobody has been allowed so far.