Prison authorities want Statkevich to share cell with another inmate

Political prisoner and former presidential candidate Mikalai Statkevich is still held in a sole confinement cell in prison No.4 in Mahilou.

The prison authorities insist that Mikalai share his cell with someone. Mikalai Statkevich, who applied for holding in the sole confinement cell, is totally against this idea, Radio Racyja learnt from the political prisoner's wife Maryna Adamovich.

“It seems that they cannot carry out their special activities and make reports if there are no people who can conflict with him and inform them about his thought, so they insistently propose him to agree on a cellmate. They even said he could choose one. They don't want him to be alone in the cell,” Maryna Adamovich noted.

She also said that the prison commission refused to remove Statkevich from the list of persons who can take hostages, attack prison officers, etc. According to the politician's wife, the move has no grounds and only shows cynicism of the authorities.

The political prisoner was transferred from a correctional facility in Shklou to a stricter prison on Mahilou at the beginning of March.

Mikalai Statkevich is the only candidate in the 2010 presidential elections who is still in prison. He was sentenced to 6 years of imprisonment in May 2011 for organising mass disorders on the election day. International human rights organisations recognised Statkevich as a political prisoner.

The politician began to serve his term in correctional facility No.17 in Shklou, but was transferred to stricter prison No.4 in Mahilou for three years in January 2012. Statkevich returned to Shklou on 12 January 2015 and got two warnings for violating prison rules in the first two days.

Mikalai Statkevich was tried in Shklou correction facility No.17 on May 4. The court ruled to transfer him to a stricter prison for the rest of his term (1 year, 7 months and 15 days). The politician was transferred to prison No.4 in Mahilou on May 6.