Operated Bandarenka sent to colony on stretcher

“European Belarus” civil campaign coordinator Zmitser Bandarenka can be transferred from the remand prison to the colony as early as this week.

BelaPAN has been informed about that by his wife Volha Bandarenka. As said by her, Bandarenka’s lawyer could not visit him, as Zmitser had not written a petition for permission for a visit. “Today the lawyer participates in the trial in the other case. I hope that I would be able to visit him today or tomorrow myself, and if I am not allowed, it would mean that I he had been transferred to the colony,” Volha Bandarenka said.

She noted that Zmitser Bandarenka is to serve the term in the colony number 15 in Mahilyou. “At least, all Zmitser’s documents have been sent there. I hope that Zmitser would be really transferred there, and I would not have to search him. But certainly, I would like him to be closer,” Volha said.

After the arrest the politician was diagnosed spinal disc herniation and trapped spinal nerves. On July 25 he was taken to the 5th hospital from the Republican Prison hospital in Valadarski Street, and operated on the next day. On August 17 Bandarenka was transferred from the 5th clinical Hospital to the Republican Prison hospital, which is situated on the territory of the remand prison in Valadarski Street.

“Due to the surgery I had been promised that Zmitser would be transported in accordance with a particular procedure, separately from other prisoners, in a prone position. I sincerely hope that it will happen this way,” Volha Bandarenka stated.

She also stated that on August 20 one third of Zmitser Bandarenka’s term expired. “In this connection he had written an application to substitute the penalty to him by a milder one, which is envisaged by the Article 91 of the Criminal Code. However I do not know the reaction to this statement,” Volha Bandarenka said.

He noted, however, that Zmitser had not written a petition for pardon to Lukashenka.

We remind that Zmitser Bandarenka was an agent of Andrei Sannikov, a presidential candidate in Belarus in the election 2010. As many opposition activists, he was detained on December 19 and placed to the KGB remind prison. There his chronic diseases aggravated. In April the court found him guilty of “organizing group actions blatantly violating public order, and active participation in them”. He was sentenced to 2 years of imprisonment in a standard regime penal colony.