Political prisoner Vaskovich marks birthday in prison
Political prisoner Yauheny Vaskovich marks his 23d birthday on February 26.
Yauheny Vaskovich was born to a family of workers in Babruisk on February 26, 1990.
He supports the Belarusian Christian Democracy party. He took part in post-election protests in 2010 and served 12 days in custody for it.
He was detained on January 17 in Mahilou, a day after a picket of solidarity with Belarusian political prisoners. He came to Mahilou to have exams at a university.
Yauheny Vaskovich was tried together with Artyom Prakapenka and Pavel Syramolatau. In May 2011, he was given 7 years in a medium security penal colony for an arson attack on the KGB building in Babruisk (he threw Molotov cocktails at the building) in early hours of October 17, 2010.
Yauheny Vaskovich, Artyom Prakapenka and Pavel Syramolatau were charged with hooliganism and causing damage on an especially large scale.
Yauheny Vaskovich said in his final statement he didn't regret what he had done. He said he considered himself a Litvin and his duty was defending Belarusian national values.
“I am ready to die for them, because life is short, but fatherland is immortal,” he said adding the didn't fear problems and would survive them. Yauheny Vaskovich ended his speech with the words “Long live Belarus”.
He served his sentence in penal colony No. 15 in Mahilou, but was transferred a cell-type unit in prison No. 4 in Mahilou on October 12, 2011. He was thrown into a punishment cell several times.
