Prisoners of dilapidating “Valadarka”: Yakub Kolas, Mikhail Marynich, Alyaksandr Kazulin, Andrei Kim (Photo)

The pretrial detention centre in Valadarski Street in Minsk continues to dilapidate. At different times many political prisoners were serving term there, from the classics Yakub Kolas, among the last being Alyaksandr Kazulin and Andrei Kim.

“According to the statement of the Centre on Regeneration of Historical and Cultural Landscapes and Territories, which carried out an expert evaluation of the state of Pishchalauski palace, the building is in dangerous state,” Interfax was told by the department of Historical and cultural values and restoration under auspices of the Culture Ministry.

As said by the interlocutor of the agency, “the building has many cracks”. Besides, “experts noted that hydro technical conditions are difficult, the castle built about 200 years ago is situated on the man-made hill, and migratory ground waters mine the foundations of the building.”

“The building needs capital repairs. There weren’t ones in the castle for almost 200 years,” experts noted.

“The statement that the castle is in an awful state, was made a month before the tower collapsed (part of one of the castle’s tower collapsed on April 20, 2008) and was given to the administration of the detention centre,” the department representatives said.

They told that in order to solve the problem of Pishchalauski castle a special inter-agency commission was created. Beside representatives of the Culture Ministry, Minsk city executive committee, architects, representatives of the Interior Ministry’ penal jurisdiction department, of the Economy Ministry have become members of the commission. This problem, resettlement of the detention centre and capital repairs of the building demands great financial expenses”.

As Interfax earlier reported with a reference to an acting Interior Ministry spokesman Aleh Slepchanka, the inter-agency commission is to present proposals for relocation of the detention centre No.1 to the government in the beginning of May.

Interfax was informed by the Culture Ministry that “the building in the centre Minsk in Valadarski Street where the detention centre is situated, and which is popularly known as “Valadarka”, was built in 1825 upon the project of architect Rudolf Pishchala.”

It was the first stone prison in Minsk. “The architect copied a typical Gothic form of a castle. It is a rectangular three-storey building with four round towers in its corners, which are finished by square notches. The castle is surrounded by a high stone wall,” experts said.

Historians have also said that in the end of the 19ies-beginning of the 20ies century many famous people of Belarus served terms in Pishchalauski Castle. They are a poet and writer Yakub Kolas, a playwright Vincent Dunin-Martsinkevich.

As we have informed, many Belarusian political prisoners were placed to the detention centre in Valadarski Street over the period of Alyaksandr Lukashenka in power. Among them were Alyaksandr Kazulin, Andrei Klimau, Mikhail Marynich, Mikalay Statkevich, Paval Sevyarynets, Zmitser Dashkevich, Artur Finkevich, Valery Shchukin and many others. Today prisoners of conscience Syarhei Parsyukevich and Andrei Kim are held there.

Pickets with a demand to release political prisoners held in front of Valadarski Street detention centre regularly