Political prisoner Prakapenka earns 50,000 rubles a month

June 8-9, political prisoner Artsiom Prakapenka had a long-term meeting with his parents. In fact, it lasted less than a day - from 3 p.m. to 11 a.m. the following day.

During the meeting Artsiom reported about deterioration of the conditions in prison: the colony is overcrowded, now there are 12 people per 24 square meters instead of 10.

At present the politicla prisoner works as a machine operator for the production of heat pipes and earns 50,000 Belarusian rubles a month (about $3).

“I read somewhere that the average wage in the Belarusian colonies was 800,000 rubles, whereas he receives just 50,000, and it is considered to be a large wage,” pointed Artsiom's mother.

Artsiom Prakapenka didn't complain about his health.

Let us remind that Mr. Prakapenka filed a clemensy petition to Aliaksandr Lukashenka on request of his parents back in February 2015. Earlier Lukashenka had publicly stated that such petitions would be granted. However, on April 17 the political prisoner phoned his relatives from Mahilioŭ colony and said that he was denied clemency without any explanations.

“Artsiom Prakapenka has been sentenced to 7 years in prison together with Pavel Syramalotau and Yauhen Vaskovich for an attempt to shoot on video the protest action near Babruisk KGB office in 2010. Like other political prisoners, he has always had the status of a malignant violator of the prison rules. He was being pressurized into writing a clemency petition, like Pavel Syramalotau in 2012 (after which the latter was released from jail). Recently Artsiom has agreed to this step on request of his parents, but received a denial, which witnesses a change of the political will concerning the fate of the political prisoners as compared to the situation in 2012,” commented the lawyer of the Human Rights Center “Viasna” Nasta Loika.