Mikalai Autukhovich: Why do they help the devil to trade the fates of people?

In his recent letter the political prisoner writes about hopes for an early release from prison of political leaders and civil society activists.

In particular, Mikalai Autukhovich says, “All the holidays have passed, and there was no miracle. I cannot imagine from where that information came, which gave hope for a quick meeting of political prisoners with their families (Easter, May 5, and Victory Day, May 9). If anything happens, I will know about it at the last moment. I have already lived through this, I am a prisoner with experience of such a release. But I do not like this freedom. It would be better if stayed here until the end, so that they could not to manipulate my destiny, my sufferings and troubles. When a person is innocent, why do our opposition politicians reject the main demand of the public about the full rehabilitation? I am going through these hardships with the hope that it will be used for the benefit of the future of our nation. And what do the democratic leaders do? Assist the devil in trading the fates of people?”

As for his current condition, Mikalai Autukhovich says that he is doing well.

For the first time Mikalaj Autukhovich was arrested in October 2005 after starting to actively fight for his business (the entrepreneur had a taxi firm) and take long hunger strikes. The entrepreneur was sentenced to three in a half years in prison after being accused of tax evasion. He was one of the six political prisoners, released as the result of the USA and EU’s tough sanctions.

For the second time Mikalaj Autukhovich was arrested on 8 February 2009 and then tried on 6 May 2010 by the Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus according to the part 3 of the article 295 of the Criminal Code (unlawful actions with firearms, ammunition and explosives). Despite the whole failure of the criminal case due to the absence of evidence, he was sentenced to 5 years and 2 months of freedom deprivation in the regime of high security.

By court’s decision as of 17 January 2012 the penal conditions have been changed for tougher ones and Mikalaj Autukhovich has been transferred from the colony number 5 in Ivacevichy to the prison number one in Hrodna.

Autukhovich did not acknowledge the guilt in court and claimed that he was being prosecuted for anticorruption activities.