Head of OSCE office is asked to visit detention center in Akrestsin Street

Darya Korsak, spouse of an activist of Alyaksandr Atroshchankau, who had been sentenced to 15 days of arrest, has addressed the head of the OSCE office in Minsk Hans-Johan Schmidt with a request to visit the detention center in Akrestsin Street in Minsk where her husband is kept.

“I ask You, mister Ambassador, to visit my husband within the framework of the mandate of the OSCE Office in Minsk; and to inform Your r honourable organisation about the incarceration conditions there humiliating human dignity and which are equated to tortures by human rights activists,” Darya Korsak writes. The letter hasn’t received any response from the OSCE Office in Minsk so far.

The Charter’97 press center offers the shortened text of the letter.

Dear Mr Ambassador,

I am addressing You with a request to help stop persecution of my husband Alyaksandr Atroshchankau and to help preserve his health. Once again Alyaksandr was arrested on June 12, 2008 and hastily sentenced to 15 days of arrest in the prison in Akrestsin Street.

Harassment of Alyaksandr Atroshchankau has a systematic character which I believe is connected to his active citizenship. He is sentenced to arrests from 5 to 15 days two times a year on an average. Court workers do everything possible to prevent a lawyer from participation in the trial, while all charges are based on testimony of policemen.

I greatly fear my husband’s health aggravation over the 15 days, especially after independent mass media learnt facts of beating up the arrested after detention and inside the remand prison in Akrestsin Street.

I appeal to You, mister Ambassador, to visit my husband within the framework of the mandate of the OSCE Office in Minsk; and to inform Your r honourable organisation about the incarceration conditions there humiliating human dignity and which are equated to tortures by human rights activists.

Your getting involved in the matter and in the fate of my husband can help preserving his health.

With respect and hope for Your understanding,

Darya Korsak