Siarhei Kavalenka stops hunger-strike

RFE/RL learned it from the father of the political prisoner, Aliaksandr Kavalenka, who visited his son in the psychiatric hospital in Minsk.

“He said he began to drink juices and eat. He is not fed through a tube and does not receive IV therapy. He is in a good mood. He asked me to tell about his family. According to him, attitude here is much better than in Vitba-3 penal colony,” Aliaksandr Kavalenka said.

Bear in mind that the court of the Pershamaiski district of Vitebsk sentenced Siarhei Kavalenka to two years and a month in prison on February 24. The opposition activist was accused of a probation violation (article 415 of the Criminal Court).

In May 2010, Kavalenka was given a suspended sentence by the Kastrychnitski district court for hanging out a national white-red-white flag on a Christmas Tree in Vitebsk.  Kavalenka has been in custody since 19 December 2011. He went on hunger strike in protest and lost half his body weight. According to his wife, he weights 45 kg against his normal 83 kg.

Doctors began to force-feed him on 1 April. Kavalenka said he was ready to stop hunger strike only in a hospitals for civilians. The Belarusian democratic community and international organizations demand to release the opposition activist.