24.10.2012 Vasil Parfiankou faces punishment cell

Opposition activist Vasil Parfiankou, currently serving his sentence in a penal colony in Baranavichy, may be placed in a punishment cell, after he received a reprimand from the prison administration, says his friend Volha, quoting a recent letter from the prisoner.

24.10.2012 Where do letters to Vaskovich disappear?

After repeated complaints of Yauhen Vaskovich on him not receiving letters his friends and colleagues from Babruisk decided to have a peculiar check.

22.10.2012 Vaskovich has been receiving letters only from relatives for half a year

According to the information form the press-sevice of the Belarusian Association of Journalists Anatol Sanatsenka received a letter from the journalist of his newspaper Yauhen Vaskovish, who is now in the prison number 4 in Mahiliou. This is the first piece of news from the political prisoner for almost two years that he has spent in an isolation ward, colony and prison.

19.10.2012 Ales Bialiatski faces restrictions on medical parcels

The imprisoned leader of the Human Rights Center “Viasna” Ales Bialiatski is facing obstacles in receiving parcels with medicines at penal colony No. 2 in Babruisk, Radio Racyja reports, quoting the human rights defender’s wife Natallia Pinchuk.

18.10.2012 Why did arrestee die in Minsk pre-trial prison’s hospital?

As part of the monitoring of the penitentiary system carried out by the Human Rights Center "Viasna", human rights defenders keep receiving letters in which prison inmates provide specific evidence of human rights violations against people in custody and serving sentences, including allegations of torture, and other evidence of inhumane treatment to prisoners.

03.10.2012 Amnesty International: Activist threatened with rape and torture

Activist and prisoner of conscience Zmitser Dashkevich is being threatened with rape and torture in a penal colony in Mazyr, south-west Belarus, where he was transferred after his sentence on 28 August for allegedly violating prison rules entered into force.

14.09.2012 Ales Bialiatski seeks meeting with priest

The imprisoned Viasna leader Ales Bialiatski is still deprived of a possibility to have a meeting with a Roman Catholic priest, says Babruisk civil activist Siarhei Latsinski, quoting a letter received from the human rights defender.

13.09.2012 UN Human Rights Committee registers complaint by Valiantsin Stefanovich

The UN Human Rights Committee has registered a complaint submitted by deputy chairman of the Human Rights Center “Viasna” Valiantsin Stefanovich. The complaint deals with extremely poor detention conditions the human rights defender was subjected to during his arrest back in 2010.

22.08.2012 Mikalai Autukhovich has meeting with relatives for first time this year

They were allowed to have a 1.5-hour phone conversation through the glass barrier.

“It's only called a meeting,” Autukhovich says, “We were not allowed to touch or kiss each other. You cannot do anything. It will go away, but memories will live in your soul forever. I don't doubt the guilty people will answer one day for this ordeal... My term expires in less than 20 months.”

22.08.2012 Alena Kavalenka complains about jailers to the prosecutor's office

Information about the health of Siarhei Kavalenka is being hidden from his wife.

Alena Kavalenka wants the prosecutor's office to check the legality of jailers' actions, who in July punished her husband Siarhei Kavalenka with a punishment cell, reports "Radio Svaboda".

21.08.2012 Does Article 441 of the Criminal Code implement its function in penal colonies?

Article 441 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus, “Malignant insubordination to the administration of the correctional facility which executes the punishment in the form of deprivation of liberty” is a reliable means to exercise pressure and “re-educate” prisoners, used by the administration of the Belarusian penal colonies. However, does this article really implement the functions which were given to it by the legislators?

20.08.2012 Political prisoner Prakapenka goes on hunger strike in punishment cell

Artsiom Prakapenka, political prisoner serving his 7-year sentence in the penal colony of Mahiliou, has declared a hunger strike after he had been placed in a punishment cell on 15 August, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports.

20.08.2012 Syarhey Kavalenka Placed in Prison's Medical Unit

It happened after the political prisoner had spent 16 days in a disciplinary cell.

31.07.2012 Prison administration refuses to change Statkevich`s custody status to less restrictive

The administration of Mahilyow Prison No. 4 has rejected Mikalay Statekevich’s appeal to change his custody status to less restrictive, Maryna Adamovich, the wife of the 55-year-old former presidential candidate, told BelaPAN on Tuesday, referring to a recent letter from her husband.

26.07.2012 Imprisoned Zmitser Dashkevich transferred to medical unit with pneumonia

Zmitser Dashkevich, chairperson of Malady Front, has been diagnosed with single pneumonia and transferred to the medical unit of Correctional Institution No. 13 in Hlybokaye, Vitsyebsk region, Anastasiya (Nasta) Palazhanka, deputy chairperson of the opposition youth organization, told BelaPAN on Wednesday.