Political prisoner Uladzimir Asipenka released from jail

The entrepreneur was released on parole from the Ivatsevychy colony 3 months and 4 days before the end of the term of his punishment.

‘I was released on parole, though I did not count on it, nobody came, nobody told me to write a request, everything happened suddenly and quickly. And this is thanks to you – the opposition, human rights defenders and independent journalists. The Head of the Political Department of the colony informed me, that too many complaints that I’m not released came to the Department of Sentence Execution. And I was called at first to one commission, then to another, the court took place, the decision was satisfactory. I was released at 5 p.m. on Friday, my daughter came to pick me up,’ – said Uladzimir Asipenka.

When asked how the years of imprisonment passed, Mr. Asipenka said: ‘I got through it. All this is familiar to me as a military man who is accustomed to hardships. Of course, the problems with my sight arose – I lost the sight of one eye for 50% and have problems with teeth. I remember that a man on duty in the colony told us: those whose sentences are more than three years will lose relatives, connections and teeth,’ – the political prisoner said.

Commenting the court and the sentence imposed on him and Mikalai Autukhovich, Asipenka says: ‘Sure, the authorities could not admit their defeat at court. This case was ordered. I don’t know who did it. I’ll tell you later, at first I’ll think everything over. Either I or Mikalai did not commit this crime. The case collapsed in court, but they could not recognize it. Had it been in their authority to decide, we wouldn’t have been imprisoned, they could have taken into consideration the fact that we had spent much time in pre-trial custody. The article according to which we were accused, stipulates just limitation of freedom. They wanted to break me, but they made a mistake, I went endured everything. The principal task for now is – Mikalai. I was reading press and I agree with him: one should demand the launch of a criminal case against those who conducted the investigation. I was kept within 6 months on accusation of arson, which was not confirmed in court. There are corresponding articles for such investigators in the Criminal case. These actions are illegal and mean,’ commented Mr. Asipenka.

The grant of parole obliges Uladzimir Asipenka to constantly appear at the police station and prohibits him to go abroad. ‘I wanted to go to Kyiv to visit the grave of my sister, who had died while I was in prison, but I can’t leave the country before February 2011’, - Asipenka said.

Talking about his further plans, the former political prisoner states that ‘doesn’t intend to sit on his hands’.

’I’m going to participate actively in the opposition activity. I will not sit on my hands. People who hid us behind the bars should be punished,’ – Asipenka says.

A former military man from Vaukavysk Uladzimir Asipenka was in the same court case with Mikalai Autukhovich. Asipenka, as well as Autukhovich, was accused of preparation of acts of terror against high-ranking officials, but it was not confirmed in court. The court, however, found Uladzimir Asipenka guilty of illegal actions with weapon and was sentenced to three years of imprisonment. The former military man pleaded non-guilty and said that in such a way he was revenged for anticorruption activity and solidarity with Autukhovich. Uladzimir Asipenka was behind the bars from 8 February 2009.

Mikalai Autukhovich was sentences to 5.5 years of imprisonment according to the similar faked-up, in the human rights defenders opinion, accusation.