Ales Bialiatski’s meeting with dying father possible on paper only

The wife of imprisoned Viasna leader Ales Bialiatski has received another reply from Chair of Minsk Pershamaiski District Court Mrs. Tamara Vysotskaya on the possibility of Bialiatski’s meeting with his father who is said to be on his death-bed.

The reply is extremely formal and in essence very similar to yesterday’s permit, which was not admitted for execution by the administration of Zhodzina prison due to procedural shortcomings.

According to Ales Bialiatski’s wife and his associates, the resolution of the issue might have been arranged by the Interior Ministry’s Department for the Execution of Sentences. However, an official reply from the Department said today that, under the law, persons in custody, can only meet their family members in special premises within the detention facility. “No other procedures for granting of a meeting to persons whose judgment has not taken legal effect are provided”, says Mr. S. Pratsenka, the Department’s acting head.