"I had an airsoft pellet in my leg." Kanstantsin Karnei on medical care at Akrescina
As part of the Week of Solidarity with Political Prisoners in Belarus, Viasna has prepared a number of videos where former political prisoners share their stories about substandard and untimely medical care in places of detention. Kanstantsin Karnei, a journalist from Vot Tak and a former political prisoner, spoke about healthcare in the temporary detention facility at Akrescina.
"Healthcare at at Akrescina can be compared with the Schrodinger cat: it, of course, exists, but at the same time it does not. For example, when we arrived there, we had a fairly harsh detention, and at that time I had an airsoft pellet in my leg. I told the nurse that I had a small problem with my leg. She started screaming that I needed to be taken to the hospital and have a surgery there to get that pellet out. To which I quickly received the answer that I'm from the "controlled ones". Those who are at Akrescina with the status of "the controlled" do not receive any medical care.
It looks like this: you wake up in the morning, and after a check a nurse starts to go around and ask what problems people have. If the relatives managed to transfer some kind of medicines, then technically she can offer them: some kind of paracetamol if you feel bad, or vitamin C so that you don't feel sad. If you're lucky, you get something. If you're unlucky with the shift, then no one gets anything."
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"When I arrived at Valadarka, my digestive system had been adjusted to the food at Akrescina: as tasteless as possible. And then I found myself in a place where there finally were meat, chocolate, and fruit. And as a nineteen-year-old teenager, I started eating it all. My body rejected all this food. At four in the morning, I started to feel sick and was shivering. The guys in the cell got up and said, "That's it, we need to call a doctor."
They called the doctor and I was briefly explained that if something hurts and it can not be treated with a big dose of painkillers or antibiotics, then this problem will not be solved. No dentist, no lung treatment. Anything that cannot be helped with basic medicines will not be cured."
Stories of former political prisoners:
"I started to lose consciousness," Vadzim Khizhniakou on the consequences of mold allergy in a prison cell
"You can't physically walk in this state." Volha Loika spoke about medical care in a pre-trial detention center
