Volha Bandarenka to apply to court

The wife of Zmitser Bandarenka will appeal against the decision of the medical expert panel concerning physical disability.

Volha Bandarenka, the wife of coordinator of European Belarus civil campaign Zmitser Bandarenka, told journalists on March 5 after a visit to penal colony No. 15 in Mahilyou she planned to file a claim to court against the decision of the interregional rehabilitation medical expert commission, which refused to admit her husband a disabled person, BelaPAN reports.

“As of now, all bodies refuse to give him a status of a disabled person. I am inclined to go to court. But first I'd like to ask Zmitser's opinion,” the wife of the imprisoned politician said.

According to her, Bandarenka has undergone magnetic resonance tomography  (MRT), but the results are unknown.

A lawyer from Mahilyou visited the penal colony today, but was unable to meet with the political prisoner. According to Bandarenka's wife, Zmitser applied for meeting with his Minsk lawyer.

Volha passes the necessary medications to her husband and talked to doctors. “They said he felt better, but he is still in the medical unit. He has gout exacerbation, left foot arthrosis, arthrosis of the right big toe and severe pains,” the wife of the political prisoner said.

Zmitser Bandarenka was among key members in presidential candidate Andrei Sannikov's team at the 2010 elections. Sannikov was sentenced in the case of the so called mass disorders on December 19 and sent to Vitebsk penal colony Vitba-3. Bandarenka was sentenced to two years in a minimum penal colony. His chronic diseases aggravated after the arrest in December 2010. He underwent a spine surgery in June 2011.

Confinement conditions were strengthened for Bandarenka in late December 2012. In spite of his problems with health he was obliged to go to work, take part in formations, march in column. Besides, he was not allowed to use a crutch. The politicians applied for a pardon on February 3 and prison authorities permitted him to use a crutch. His relatives and human rights activists regard the actions in relation to Bandarenka as tortures. An appeal asking to investigate the facts of torture against Zmitser Bandarenka was sent to the UN.