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Inmate Narrates Tortures In Hlybokaye Penal Colony

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Inmate Narrates Tortures In Hlybokaye Penal Colony

The inmate of the colony #13 was beaten due to the conflict with the “superintendent”.

After the suicide of inmate Mikhail T. in the penal colony in Shklou had been reported, the family members of other convicts started telling about the pressure from the side of the administrations and guards of the Belarusian penal colonies and prisons.

Thus, Victoria Lahvinenka has told the correspondent of the Radio Liberty that her brother Aliaksandr is serving the term of 11 years of imprisonment for drug distribution in the penal colony #13 in Hlybokaye.

“In the end of the year, my brother and another convict were beaten by the guards right in the brigade, in front of other inmates standing in the line. He informed that his legs remain blue from the knees up to the waist: they had beaten him in the legs on purpose, so that his face would be clear from the traces of beating. Now they put him into the cell-type premises – this is a sort of a punitive cell – for a half a year. He says he will try to hold on there, but he also admits he might commit suicide as another convict did earlier this year,” - Victoria Lahvinenka says.

Why did they beat inmate Lahvinenka?

Victoria has learnt the reason for the conflict between her brother and the prison guards from his letter. Allegedly, Aliaksandr had a row with the “superintendent” of the brigade, and the guards beat the inmate in front of the line because of that. What does the “superintendent” have to do with that?

A “superintendent” in the brigade must note their work and report on it, - Victoria says. – He demanded that the convicts should pay him for ticking off. There is no money there, so everyone pays with whatever they have: cigarettes, tea, sweets, something from the parcels that inmates receive from home. The relatives of other convicts confirmed there had been such a tradition.

However, our Aliaksandr rebelled, and a conflict happened between him and the “superintendent” this summer. They even had a fight. He spent certain term in the punitive cell for that. Before the New Year, the conflict repeated, they had a row but didn’t fight — just had a verbal argument. One more convict was also outraged by the behavior of that “superintendent”. So, the guards forced the two of them out of the brigade of convicts standing in the line, and beat them with sticks, in the legs, so that the legs are blue now, in the eyes of the administration. Then the inmates were put in the cell-type premises in such a severe condition, for a half a year, as they said.”

According to Victoria, the incident in the penal colony in Hlybokaye happened on December 26 or 27. In the beginning of the year, she called the officer-on-duty of the Interior Ministry’s Department of Corrections and asked about the health condition of her brother.

“They replied they had no information about the beating, having added that there allegedly had been no incidents in the colony those days, everything had been quiet,” - Victoria Lahvinenka has said.

“Inmate jumped out of the window and fell to his death”

Victoria Lahvinenka thinks that the complicated psychological atmosphere in the penal colony pushes her brother to suicide thoughts.

“My brother told me people die there on a regular basis. They have a very light-hearted attitude to a man’s life there: easy come – easy go. A guy died at the wood processing manufacture in summer – a sharp piece of wood literally pinched him after rebounding from the lathe. He died in the eyes of other convicts. The administration official only changed his boots for the formal ones to make the impression on the inspectors that there had been no uniform violations. When the year started, another inmate jumped out of the window and fell to his death — they claimed it was an accident. Right now, a man with the terminal stage of cancer is dying in the cell, getting no real medical assistance. There are no medicines there but paracetamol, which they give to cure any illness,” - Victoria Lahvinenka says, referring to her brother.

“After Lukashenka’s Decree #6 former drug addicts are treated with extreme brutality in penal facilities”

Aliaksandr Lahvinenka is an individual entrepreneur from Homel, he is 32. Aliaksandr is serving punishment under Part 3 of Article 328 – distribution of drugs within a group or repeatedly. However, Aliaksandr admitted guilt in court only with regard to the first part of the said article. Aliaksandr’s sister admits that the investigators probably “secured” a harsher accusation against her brother by illegal actions.

The colony #13 in Hlybokaye is not for the first-time convicts. What was Aliaksandr’s prior conviction for?

Victoria says it’s her brother’s second drugs-related imprisonment. The first one happened when he was 20 years old and “smoked dope with his friends”. Aliaksandr Lahvinenka served his first prison term in the colony of Shklou.

“He says there was no such pressure as now. Everything changed after Lukashenka’s Decree#6, which toughened the punishment for drug-related crimes. After that, the former drug addicts are treated with extreme brutality in the penal facilities,” – the convict’s sister says.

Representatives of the penal colony #13 in Hlybokaye refused to comment the information regarding beating of inmate Aliaksandr Lahvinenka and placing him to the cell-type premises, to the journalists of Radio Liberty.

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