Bandarenka on operation table

Political prisoner Zmitser Bandarenka undergoes a surgical operation in the 5th hospital in Minsk today.

BelaPAN learnt it from his wife Volha.

The opposition politician is diagnosed with leg pareses, herniated spinal disks and trapped spinal nerves. Zmitser arrived at the 5th hospital in the morning on July 25, but he was suddenly returned to the detention facility, where his lawyer visited him. Bandarenka was taken to hospital again in the evening.

Bandarenka, the coordinator of European Belarus civil campaign and agent of 2010 presidential president Andrei Sannikov, was sentenced in April to two years in prison for participating an a protest demonstration on December 19, 2010, against the rigged presidential elections. He was thrown into the KGB jail, where his chronic diseases aggravated.

A neurologist examined him in May and said Bandarenka needed an urgent operation – he has four herniated spinal discs and spinal nerve entrapment. The state of health of the political prisoner deteriorated in June, he was taken to the medical unit and then to the republican prison hospital. Bandarenka was given a choice: either he goes to a penal colony or undergoes an operation. He had to give his written consent to the operation. He was denied a consultation of a neurosurgeon. Zmitser’s family and friends say it is in fact an involuntary operation.

The Embassy of Poland, the country holding the EU presidency, released a statement to support Bandarenka. The statement demands the Belarusian authorities to ensure proper treatment, counsel, and rehabilitation to the convicted politician. President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek urged official Minsk to release Bandarenka and other political prisoners immediately.