Health of the political prisoner Valiery Lievanieuski got worse: he was taken to prison hospital

18.10.2005.

Valiery Lievanieuski was taken from Ivatsevichy prison to the Republican prison hospital, said Radio Liberty. According to the prisoner's relations, the heart problems got worse after Lievanieuski had been on hunger-strikes to protest against the violation of his rights.
According to Lievanieuski's son Uladzimier, "he first started to have problems with the heart and back, but he does not know why. He decided to undergo treatment and get a medical checkup at the same time".
Ivatsevichy prison confirmed that Lievanieuski had been transferred to Minsk, however, the Minsk prison does not provide any information about the prisoner. They refer to an in-house instruction, which requires provision of a written application before such information can be granted.
Lievanieuski's relations do not rule it out that several days will pass before Valiery Lievanieuski, who may well be in Baranavichy, reaches the hospital. Prisoners are collected in the isolation ward of this town before they are taken in large groups to other locations. At the start of the year on the way from Mahilou prison to Ivatsevichy prison Valiery Lievanieuski already spent several days in Baranavichy isolation ward. Then he wrote his relations about the bad conditions in this isolation ward. In particular he mentioned lack of necessary medical help.
In the year and a half that Valiery Lievanieuski has spent in prison he declared hunger-strikes on four occasions. That was the method he used to obtain improved conditions and have his complaints considered. The hunger-strike that lasted the longest of all was three weeks. After the last hunger-strike Valiery Lievanieuski ended up in the medical section of the prison, where he was diagnosed with cardiac arrhythmia.

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