Alyaksandr Atroshchankau: “I am sure Sannikov is tortured”

The former political prisoner is convinced that presidential candidate Andrei Sannikov was taken from the penal colony in Navapolatsk to torture him.

“It’s clear for everyone that Belarus is too small for 5-day travels. As a rule, prisoners spend most of their time during transitions in central prisons. A central prison is the worst place to go. Even an ordinary penal colony is a closed institution. It’s extremely hard to get any information from there.

A central prison is completely isolated from the outer world. Prison guards are anonymous. They have unlimited power. Confinement conditions in these prisons can be considered a torture: overcrowding, insanitary conditions, tuberculosis…

I heard awful things about the Vitsebsk central prison. Even ordinary prisoners are beaten brutally there to make them admit their guilt. The sophisticated instruments of treatment and mockery can catch the most diseased imagination. I fear to imagine what can be done with a person on a “special order”. I fear that these days will be even more difficult for Sannikov than confinement in the KGB jail,” Alyaksandr Atroshchankaiu told charter97.org.