KGB refuses to return belongings of political prisoner Dziadok to his family

Relatives of Mikalai Dziadok cannot receive his computer back.

The wife of the political prisoner, Valeria Khotsina, told it Radio Svaboda.

“We continue to struggle for the return of Mikalai Dziadok's belongings, in particular his computer, that have been kept in the KGB for two and a half years. We recently received a general power of attorney from him to collect his belongings. I hope they will give me his computer in the way they returned the belongings of Frantskevich and others [to their families],” she says.

“I know that Mikalai has changed three cells. The lawyer doesn't say the reason was something bad. Maybe it was an ordinary reshuffle. He doesn't complain and writes he feels better in a prison than in a cell-type facility, where he was alone, and better than in penal colony No. 17,” she says.

The political prisoner's wife worries about his health. According to Valeria Khotsina, Mikalai Dziadok writes he gets tired quickly that can probably be explained by lack of fresh air and bad food.

“He is tired after an hour's walk as if he unloaded a truck of watermelons. It is because of a lack of space and physical activity, though he does yoga and physical exercises,” she says.  

Mikalai Dziadok was sentenced to 4 years in prison on accusations of carrying out attacks on administrative buildings. The activists denied the accusations at the trial. Mikalai Dziadok was given the status of a “persistent violator of prison rules”.