Political prisoner Mikalai Dziadok gets 4 penalties in 2 weeks, twice put in penal cell

According to Valeryia Khotsina, wife of political prisoner Mikalai Dziadok, on May 12 he was transferred to a new place of imprisonment – colony No. 9 in Horki. The following day, May 13, he was placed in solitary confinement, where he spent 5 days. On May 19, he was sent to the punishment cell again. Because of the very low temperature in the cell, Dziadok suffered greatly throughout the night and asked to be transferred to another room.

After all, in the morning on May 20 the prisoner cut his abdomen and arms to protest against the ill-treatment, and was take to prison hospital. After receiving first aid, Mikalai Dziadok was again put in the same cold cell, where he stayed until May 26. According to Valeryia Khotsina, Dziadok has received four penalties since his arrival at the colony in Horki.

Lawyer Pavel Sapelka earlier said that penal colony No. 9 in Horki was designed for prisoners who had previously served a sentence of imprisonment. Detention conditions in the penal colony are clearly reflected in our 2014 publication “Prisoners tell about radical approaches to correcting in penal colony No. 9 in Horki”.

Mikalai Dziadok has served 4.5 years in prison for alleged hooliganism on official buildings and had to be released on 3 March 2015. However, on February 26 the court of Lieninski district of Mahilioŭ sentenced the political prisoner under Article 411 of the Criminal Code (“willful disobedience to the administration of a penal institution”) to another year of imprisonment in a penal colony. On April 30, the verdict was confirmed by a court of appeals.