Statkevich released from punishment cell, no news from Lobau

On January 24, Mikalai Statkevich was released from an isolation cell in Mahilou prison after 10-day punishment. The political prisoner met with his lawyer.

“Mikalai is brave and cheerful. He has been released from an isolation cell, but has not been moved to a normal cell. I saw the prison chief, who confirmed he had a document prescribing to hold him in maximum security regime for at least six months. But the most important thing for me is that he left the punishment cell. I hope he will not be thrown there again this night,” Mikalai Statkevich’s wife, Maryna Adamovich, told in an interview to Radio Svaboda.

The mother of Eduard Lobau, who serves his 4-year sentence in a penal colony in Ivatsevichy, worries because she has not heard anything from him for three weeks:

“No calls, no letters – nothing! The latest letter was on January 3, the latest call was on January 7. He phoned regularly in December. He can call three times a month and he made three calls. He has phoned one time in January, but the month is coming to an end.”

Valyantsina, the mother of anarchist Ihar Alinevich, prepares a parcel and talks about the latest letter from her son, who serves his sentence in a penal colony in Navapolatsk:

“He writes he received a lot of New Year’s greeting and feels confused about it: he is not a hero. He does not phone, they do not allow him to phone. We are going to visit the colony on Wednesday to pass a parcel. My husband and I spent the whole morning weighting and optimizing the parcel, trying to make it useful. The next parcel will be allowed only in May.”