Hearing of Syarhey Kavalenka's appeal expected to resume on May 18

The hearing of Syarhey Kavalenka's appeal against his prison sentence will resume in the Vitsyebsk Regional Court on May 18, the wife of the 37-year-old opposition activist told BelaPAN on Thursday.

"My husband is currently held in a solitary cell in a detention center in Vitsyebsk," Alena Kavalenka said. "I attempted to meet with him today, but jail officers didn't allow me in. I was denied permission to meet Syarhey next Monday. So I don't expect to see him until the May 18 hearing."

According to Mrs. Kavalenka, someone has recently told her about the condition of her husband after his debilitating hunger strike. "He weighs about 40 kilograms, whereas his normal weight is between 83 and 85 kilograms," she said. "He has developed a whole host of health problems. It is not unlikely that he has resumed his hunger strike."

Syarhey Kavalenka, a member of the Conservative Christian Party, was sentenced to a suspended three-year prison sentence in 2010 for putting a white-red-white flag on top of Vitsyebsk's tallest Christmas tree in early January.

On December 19, 2011, Mr. Kavalenka was arrested at home on a charge of violating probation rules and placed in the Vitsyebsk detention center. He was on hunger strike since his arrest and reportedly lost nearly 40 kilograms of weight.

On February 24, he was sentenced to two years and one month in prison.

Four days later, Mr. Kavalenka was transferred from the Vitsba 3 correctional institution near Vitsyebsk to the national prison hospital in Minsk.

In late March, he was moved to the medical unit of the Vitsba 3 prison.

On April 1, doctors began force-feeding Mr. Kavalenka with a Belarusian-made milk formula. He was said to be given the formula through a tube up to six times a day and get glucose, amino acids and vitamins intravenously.

Ten days later, a panel of the Vitsyebsk Regional Court ordered Mr. Kavalenka placed in a psychiatric hospital for a comprehensive examination, while simultaneously postponing a hearing on the opposition activist's appeal against his prison sentence until the examination findings are known.

It was reported on April 13 that Mr. Kavalenka had voluntarily ended his hunger strike. On May 2, he was transferred from the Navinki psychiatric hospital to the detention center on Valadarskaha Street. His mother was told at the interior ministry's corrections department on May 4 that experts had found him sane. A few days later, he was moved to the Vitsyebsk jail.