"No one will know that you are sitting there beaten." Former political prisoner on the harsh conditions in the Vitsba penal colony

Mikalai (the name was changed for security reasons) spent almost two years in prison. In June, the man was released from Viciebsk colony № 3 on the expiration of his sentence. To avoid being put behind bars again, the former political prisoner was forced to leave Belarus. Mikalai told Viasna how prisoners are deprived of the right to medical care and forced to do hard labor, about denunciations of the Belarusian language, beatings of prisoners, as well as severe restrictions on political activity.

"The sentence has not yet come into effect and they have already taken me to the penal colony".

The man was accused of participating in the post-election protests in Minsk and sentenced to imprisonment. Immediately after the trial and even before the appeal was considered, he was transferred to Viciebsk penal colony № 3. At that time his sentence had not yet become final.

"When someone is going to be transferred, they give you time to pack. But they just grabbed me in a few minutes and told me to pack my things quickly. And they took me to the penal colony. I was only in quarantine for an hour, I didn't even know where I was. I did not understand what was going on and I thought it was illegal. The sentence has not yet come into effect and they have already taken me to the penal colony.

And they did not understand what to do with me there because I had not yet been sentenced. So they put me in solitary confinement. The hardest thing when you sit like that is not knowing how long you have to sit and where you are. I ended up in solitary confinement for two months."

"Immediately they do everything to break a person."

After the appeal was heard, Mikalai was transferred to quarantine.

"You go to quarantine and immediately they do everything to break a person. Penal colony No. 3 is a "red" colony. Not "black," where thieves rule, but red. There are also many policemen there. Everyone is under the administartion's leadership."

According to Mikalai, prisoners who come to the colony are forced to sign papers stating that the person agrees to do whatever the administration says.

"I don't understand why they don't shoot you."

"There is no medical care in the colony. There's analgin if it's a critical situation. 

And all the things that people say about their teeth are true. They don't want to provide dental care. If you get sick in the penal colony, there's nothing you can do, and no one will help you."

In addition, the former political prisoner said that there are two men in Viciebsk colony who were sentenced for making political statements, who have serious mental illnesses and therefore require special examination.

"A psychologist works in the colony. One day, the command went to the industrial zone and asked the psychologist why ordinary prisoners could be removed from the "suicidal" profile, but not political prisoners. And he said: "I don't understand why they don't shoot you."

"In just one day, three people seem to have died."

On May 7, 2023, Mikalai Klimovich, a 61-year-old political prisoner blogger and social activist from Pinsk, died in Vicieebsk Colony № 3. The man had a group II disability due to a disease of the heart system, suffered a stroke and complicated heart surgery. Nevertheless, the Pinsk court sentenced him to imprisonment. Mikalai spent a little more than two months in prison.

Mikalai was also in that colony. "Viasna" asked him if he knew about the death of a political prisoner.

"I heard about Klimovich's death. I was already in the detachment. I suppose he did not survive the stage. After all, there is a special attitude to politics there. The politicians all have handcuffs behind their backs with bags. If a booth is for four people, and they push 20 people in there, it really is true, and with these huge bags. So if a person has a weak heart, he might not be able to stand it. And then the quarantine is very stressful. I think three people died there in one day."

"Many people are beaten in the colony".

Viasna often records facts of physical violence against political prisoners. Most often beatings and torture are used during detention, but some continue to be abused in prison. Nikolai says that this also happens in the Vitsebsk colony.

"Many people are beaten in the colony, not only political prisoners. If the staff doesn't like something, or if you give the wrong answer, they can certainly beat you. For example, those who are in the SHIZO. What difference does it make if even a lawyer is not allowed to visit them? So no one will know that you are sitting there beaten."

"We raise our hands and they count how many extremists and terrorists there are".

There is a special attitude to politics in the colony, even sports were not allowed.

Once Mikalai refused to perform at a concert in a club in the colony, for which he was deprived of a Skype call. Political prisoners in general could not call their relatives for months, while every week is allowed.

"There were cases where we came to a person and said: 'We have to write a crime today, tell me what you have to do today.

In addition, we raise our hands and they count how many extremists and terrorists there are. Murderers and drug addicts walk around with white tags, but we walk around with yellow tags. For every 40 people, there were 10 of us in the front - extremists.

People are in prison for nothing. You write "cockroach" and you get eight years. And there are murderers who get seven years for killing a man. It's a pity for these people. Everyone is there: writers, poets, artists, IT specialists, former employees. There is someone interesting to talk to. Dmitry Yurtayev sat with us, and his books were in the library.

It is said that there are no friends in prison. That's not true. We were all friends."

"Are you crazy to speak Belarusian here?"

The administration does not approve of the Belarusian language in the colony. According to Nikolai, one of the employees tore up pictures and texts written in Belarusian.

"He said to me: "Are you crazy to speak Belarusian here?" There are people in the colony who make reports, so-called snitches, they tell the administration what these extremists are doing. And they can come to look through your bag, to look for violations. And there, even with the first offense, they can send you to a detention center. And if there are three serious violations, they can spend up to two years [under Article 411 of the Criminal Code].

And this is not just because you speak Belarusian there. It's just a tense situation there because of the terrible conditions and the fact that there's little space and it's the same thing every day."

"It's so cold that you could die."

Mikalai says the conditions in the prisoners' cell-type facility (PKT) are terrible.

"No sunlight enters the cell. In winter it is very cold because the window is open. It is so cold that you can die. If you squat, it takes an hour to warm up.

There are no mattresses in the SHIZO cells. Some sleep on an iron bed, others on a wooden board.

The CCP used to take me down these corridors to beat me up. All in all, there are single cells, and there are cells for four and six people."

"You are just poisoned there by the USSR and the war."

"In the colonies there is very hard work that political prisoners are forced to do. Political prisoners do only hard work, they are not given light work. For example, we carry logs, boards. Some of them dismantle metal, and it gets so bad that their skin peels off. We also made some boxes, but we don't know what they are for. We made some uniforms for the Russian army. But I don't know exactly where they went.

There's also this cultural and correctional work all the time. They do propaganda there. All the time "war", "Soviet times", posters with "sickle and hammer" everywhere. You just get poisoned by the USSR and this war".

Political prisoners are forced to work even when they are ill. Nikolai recalls that once he had a temperature of 40 degrees, was not allowed to see a doctor, and was forced to go to work.

What saved in detention

"The administration with its conditions can make a tougher regime. It's hard. You wake up every day at six o'clock and the same thing starts. The only thing that saves you is books and trying to do sports. But it is important to eat well, and they make a salad out of the program - they cut everything up and mix it. And when the program comes, it's a very hard day, because you have to lay everything out, sign it. And at that moment there can be a professional account that you can't miss. And without handovers, you can't survive with this food."