EU condemns transfer of Statkevich to stricter prison

The EU deplores stricter confinement conditions for political prisoner Mikalai Statkevich.

Charter97.org learnt it from a statement by the spokesperson for the European External Action Service.

The statement, which was released in Brussels on Wednesday, says that the decision to further punish former presidential candidate and political prisoner Mikalai Statkevich, transferring him to a cell-type prison for allegedly violating prison rules, is deplorable.

“The importance of releasing all political prisoners remains crucial in the context of improving EU-Belarus relations,” the document says.

Statkevich, an opposition politician and former presidential candidate, stood trial on May 4 in correctional facility No.17 in Shklou. He was transferred to a stricter prison for the rest of his term (1 year, 7 months and 15 days). Mikalai Statkevich was accused of violating prison rules and failure to obey prison staff. According to his wife Maryna Adamovich, he had more than 10 violations, most of them refusals to clean the territory. Cleaning works must be performed by inmates by turn not more than 2 hours a day, but these rules were not applied to the political prisoner, which was regarded by him as a mockery. On March 24, the politician filed an application saying he refuses to work, after which pressure on him increased.

Mikalai Statkevich is the only candidate at 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 in January 2015 and got two warnings for violating prison rules in the first two days.