News on the topic: detention conditions
04.10.2024 Ruslan Akostka: "What is happening in the Belarusian penal colonies is torture"
Ruslan told Viasna about the conditions of detention in the Horki colony and a meeting with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski.
02.10.2024 "It's hard to talk about, but people forget about it." Political prisoner in the Zeltser case on the anniversary of his detention
We publish a monologue by Artsiom Zadrutski on the anniversary of the Zeltser case.
01.10.2024 Philosopher, priest, cycling activist, editor: more than 40 older people remain behind bars
On the International Day of the Older Persons, we share some of their stories.
30.09.2024 "When the security forces found that I had epilepsy, they reduced the power of the taser." The story of a former prisoner
Two years of home confinement for leaving Internet comments and threats to be sent to a penal colony for condemning the Russian army.
20.09.2024 "I'm probably just going to die here": The situation of political prisoners from vulnerable groups
Human rights activists have identified at least 254 political prisoners who are at particular risk of mistreatment while incarcerated.
17.09.2024 "I was shot in the leg at the protests." The story of former political prisoner Dzmitry Panko-Niakrasau
He expressed his position in the penal colony and ended up in SHIZO for 50 days.
17.09.2024 Sister of Belarus protest leader Maryia Kalesnikava says she's starving in prison
Four years on from her arrest, Maryia Kalesnikava, 42, is being held incommunicado in a tiny, stinking prison cell where the toilet is a hole in the floor, her sister Tatsiana Khomich says.
12.09.2024 Home confinement replaced with penal colonies en masse: the reasons and who it affects
Viasna, together with lawyer Vika Rudziankova, explains the reasons for changing the punishment, which kinds of violations are punished, and what is considered malicious evasion from serving a sentence.
06.09.2024 "It violates human rights." What is known about the case of a detained Japanese in Belarus
Immediately after the news were released on the state BT channel, Tokyo protested in the Belarusian Foreign Ministry.
02.09.2024 "No one will know that you are sitting there beaten." Former political prisoner on the harsh conditions in the Vitsba penal colony
Mikalai spent almost two years in prison. In June, the man was released. He told Viasna how prisoners are deprived of the right to medical care and forced to do hard labor, about denunciations of the Belarusian language, beatings of prisoners, as well as severe restrictions on political activity.
22.08.2024 150 days in a punitive isolation cell and not a single meeting in three years. The story of a former political prisoner from Zaslaŭje
From March to June 2022, Siarhei was held in a punitive isolation cell, without bed linen, daily walks, and the possibility of buying in a prison shop.
19.08.2024 Viasna volunteer Andrei Chapiuk placed in an isolation cell a day before a meeting with his parents
The reason: "violation of the clothing regulations."
19.08.2024 "Where have you been?" Ex-political prisoner writing poetry for prison guard
"The KGB officers asked if I had contacted Viasna."
16.08.2024 "I allegedly wanted to organize a strike in the industrial zone by the first anniversary of the protests". The story of a former political prisoner
Hleb told Viasna about writing a statement of refusal to work and being accused of preparing a strike for the first anniversary of the elections at the industrial zone in Navapolack colony No. 1.
13.08.2024 "I still have a scar on my foot from the shoe." How colonies regulate women's appearance
Today in Belarus 1,253 women who are convicted in politically motivated cases. 288 of them were sentenced to imprisonment.
