Yury Rubtsou goes on hunger strike

Political prisoner Yury Rubtsou protests against a new criminal case that has been opened against him.

Rubtsou may face up to three years in prison allegedly for evasion of serving a term in an open-type prison facility.

Yury Rubtsou learnt from the Investigation Committee department in the Pruzhany district that some policemen from the prison facility in the village of Kuplin, where he serves his term, were deprived of bonuses after Rubtsou had tattooed “Lukashenka, go away” on his body, Radio Svaboda reports.

According to Rubtsou, the police reacted with opening a criminal case for evasion of serving a term.

“They want to jail me because I understand the difference between rights and duties. The Constitution says work is a right, while the Criminal Enforcement Code says it is a duty. If it is a duty, why don't the police sign an employment agreement with me and why do they accuse me? They say I declined four job offers. It's cynical. They say I must work, but I must sign an agreement that I work voluntary,” the political prisoner says.

He went on hunger strike on April 6 and declared a boycott to all police officers, investigators and prosecutors. “I won't give answers to their questions. I use the media to tell it to them,” Rubtsou says.

On April 6, political prisoner Yury Rubtsou was taken from open-type prison facility No.7 in the village of Kuplin to the Instigation Committee department in Pruzhany for investigative procedures. Rubtsou was ordered take his bag with him. A criminal case under article 415 of the Criminal Code (evasion of serving a term) was opened against him. He may face up to 3 years of imprisonment.

Activist from Homel Yury Rubtsou was sentenced to 18 months in an open-type prison facility allegedly for insulting judge Kiryl Palulekh from Minsk's Savetski district court. Yury Rubtsou has been serving his term in the village of Kuplin of the Pruzhany district since the end of 2014.