Activist trying to protect Statkevich from censorship
Leanid Haravy, member of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Hramada) and an activist of the Movement "For Freedom" from the town of Haradok, wrote a complaint against the administration prison No. 4 in Mahiliou concerning its attempts to restrict Mikalai Statkevich’s rights to correspondence.
Filing a complaint is linked to the fact that in response to a recent letter to Statkevich Leanid Haravy received a message saying that the letter did not reach the imprisoned politician due to censorship. A postcard received from Statkevich said, “I received an empty envelope from your letter marked “censorship”. So, your letter was very good :). Thanks for your support. Good luck and success in your work!”
Leanid Haravy considers the fact an unreasonable restriction on the right to correspondence. The Haradok activist filed a complaint to the Department of Corrections’ Mahiliou regional department.
Similar letters have reached other destinations in prison, says the activist.
“The latest letter, which was not allowed by the administration of prison No. 4, had no neglect of public morality, no insolence or shamelessness, that could be a reason for the letter not to reach Mikalai Statkevich. I can imagine that the censors could be alerted by the following lines, “Without daylight saving, it is already dark in the morning and in the evening. Dark are the Belarusian prospects. Instead of solving the real problems of the country, the authorities toy with the idea that all is well, and this cannot end well. Above all, I am sorry for our children, when they will have to deal with the problems that were created over several decades. And our leader recently called on the youth not to make any changes,” says the activist.
He has been corresponding with all the political prisoners who are behind bars: Mikalai Statkevich, Mikalai Autukhovich, Ales Bialiatski, and others. But it is particularly during correspondence with Mikalai Statkevich that situations appear when messages are not arriving at their destination, as they do not pass censorship.
