Syarhei Kavalenka on the brink

The political prisoner has gone on hunger strike again, though he does not seem to feel bad judging by the latest photo.

The website charter97.org received a photo of Syarhei Kavalenka from Navinki psychiatric hospital. The photo was taken  two weeks after he had ended his hunger strike.

Kavalenka was reported yesterday to have announced hunger strike again. The political prisoner demands to revoke the illegal verdict, release prisoners of conscience and legalization of national symbols.

“Syarhei was placed in the same detention facility in Vitebsk, where he had met provocations against  him in December. His physical condition is very bad. He is denied access to proper medical aid,” Alena Kavalenka, the wife of the political prisoner, says. “Under the Convention on Human Rights, which was signed by Belarus, and the Constitution of our country, everyone has the right to medical aid in every place if there are medical grounds. Syarhei has serious grounds.”

“He is deprived of this right for an unknown reason. Why is he being destroyed? For his love of his fatherland, native language and respect for the national symbols,” Alena Kavalenka said.

Syarhei Kavalenka, an activist of the CCP/BPF party, was sentenced to 2 years in prison for violation of rules of a suspended sentence he received for hanging our a national flag on Vitebsk's Christmas tree. He was on hunger strike from the middle of December to late March with a 20-day break. He lost 50 kilogrammes. During a psychiatric evaluation in Navinki psychiatric hospital, Kavalenka put on 10 kg. There's no information about his current weight.