Political prisoner Alinevich wasn't informed about his grandmother's death while in punishment cell

Ihar Alinevich learnt the sad news from his lawyer.

The political prisoner's mother Valiantsina Alinevich told it to Radio Svaboda.

“They have a rule that an inmate held in a punishment cell cannot receive mail,” she says. Ihar'smother says he learnt about his granny's death only after the release from solitary confinement.

“He learnt it from a lawyer. She was about to leave and asked him [about his grandmother]. She thought he knew about it. He stopped and said he didn't know anything... It didn't happen only to Ihar. Let's recall how Ales Bialiatski's father, Zmitser Dashkevich's mother and Ales Mauchanau's mother died when they were in prison. Regrettably, these tragedies influence both prisoners and their families,” Valiantsina Alinevich says.

She recently visited her son in prison. She says he looked normal and his mood was as usual.

On May 27, 2011, judge Zhanna Khvainitskaya from Minsk's Zavadski district court sentenced Ihar Alinevich to 8 years in a medium security correctional facility. He serves his term in Navapolatsk correctional facility No.10. Mikalai Dziadok, Aliaksandr Frantskevich and he were charged with organising a rally near the Ministry of Defence, attacking Shangri La casino and a detention facility and setting the door of a Belarusbank office on fire.