Autukhovich: I'm going to die – I have a lot of things to do

Political prisoner Mikalai Autukhovich sent a letter to his friend, a former inmate of a penal colony in Ivatsevichy.

They had been together in penal colony No. 5 before Autukhovich was transferred to a closed prison in Hrodna for “gross violations of prison rules”.

Radio Svaboda publishes extracts from the letter on permission of the recipient, who currently lives outside Belarus. The political prisoner writes he and most of inmates hove no hopes for the forthcoming amnesty:

“I know everything ends. This will end too. Best wishes to all countrymen! Thank everybody for support!

… I have no special news except for the fact that everything is so monotonously here. We are two men in the cell. Everyday is the same. I read and write a lot. Time runs and my life runs. I can only imagine how many good things I could have done outside prison during these years. Since 2005. Frankly speaking, it's a bit depressing: closed space, body is wearing out. No one can answer why I am here. They will just shrug their shoulders and shift responsibility to others if they will have to answer, It's everything like that in this poor country. No one wants to bear responsibility...

… I am definitely not going to die soon. Don't even wait for it! I have a lot of things to do.”

Under the rules of the closed prison, the former Vaukavysk-based businessman and veteran of the Soviet-Afghan war is restricted in parcels, visits of relatives and walks.

In May 2010, Autukhovich was given his second 5-year prison term allegedly for illegal possession of weapons.