Dismissed opposition activists went on hunger strike in protest

Dwellers of the Hrodna region Alyaksandr Zhytkevich and Leanid Autukhou made this step when the lost a hope to find a job due to their political views.

The democratic activists are sure that heads of local companies refuse to employ them because of their political unreliability, spring96.org reports.

Alyaksandr Zhytkevich, a former dentist assistant, went on hunger strike first. He faced problems at work after he took part in the “parliamentary elections” last year as an observer.

“I am 24 years old, and I decided to have an outward glance at elections,” Alyaksandr Zhytkovich, on hungry strike since June 30. “I was registered as an independent observer, I supported Leanid Autukhou, an MP candidate, head of the district BPF branch. I was called a BPF member, thought I didn’t belong to any party. The head of the Bychykhi rural health post, where I worked, warned me I might have problems. I didn’t fear, but two weeks after the elections a notice that I accepted bribes from my patients appeared in the book of complaints.”

The court delivered a judgement forbidding Alyaksandr Zhytkevich to practice a profession for two years and sentenced him to three years of restraint of liberty. This detail made the guy to hold hunger strike at home – he doesn’t have the right to leave his home for more than two hours a day.

“In other case, I would hold hungry strike near the district executive committee in Haradok,” Alyaksandr Zhytkevich told. I received four refusals from heads of agricultural enterprises, where I had applied for an unskilled job. I am ready to be a shepherd to earn some money! I’m an orphan, I was brought up in an orphan home, as I started to work, I took bank credits for the things I needed – furniture, a fridge. I didn’t have these things. Now I owe Belarusbank, I must pay utility bills. But I have only 120 rubles! So I have a choice: to go on protest hunger strike beacue I have nothing to eat, or to commit suicide.”

Leanid Autukhou, the head of the local BPF branch, found himself in the same situation. He joined the hungers strike on June 30.

“I must support Zhytkevuch, because this guy helped during the elections,” Leanid Autukhou says. “no oppositionists were allowed to the “parliament”, I stayed in Haradok, Alyaksandr applied t join our party. I support his protest against denuding of the right to work: I tried to find a job seven times. When I got to a company from the employment center, a vacancy is already occupied. I though it was just a coincidence, but then I understood: it is a system!”