Lots Of People In Colony Are Cut From Same Cloth

After February 5, the political prisoner will be isolated in the punitive confinement again.

After more than a 3-month break in correspondence, political prisoner Mikhail Zhamchuzhny, who is serving the criminal sentence in colony No. 9 in Horki, Mahiliou region, managed to send two letters and a congratulatory card to Vitsebsk human rights activists.

Zhamchuzhny expresses concern in the letters about three criminal cases that have been initiated against Dr. Ihar Pastnou. According to him, the doctor-truthteller must be heedful of his defense, look for witnesses more actively, and find a qualified lawyer.

The political prisoner is aware that at the present time, civil activist Piotr Ivanou’s trial is taking place in the Kastrychnitski district court of Vitsebsk. The political prisoner closely follows this process, he believes that Ivanou is a courageous man who has challenged the authoritarian political regime in Belarus.

However, according to Zhamchuzhny, both Pastnou and Ivanou "are making the same mistakes as I did 10 years ago, and therefore, the results in their cases are predictably negative."

While in detention, Mikhail Zhamchuzhny improves his skills as a human rights defender, studies criminal legislation, analyzes criminal cases of prisoners, develops common approaches to protect the people under the wheels of justice. The imprisoned human rights activist is ready to help in any criminal case, give advice to anyone who asks him about it. He invites everyone who needs his help to send him to the colony copies of documents describing the circumstances of the case.

If there are interested persons, he asks them to hurry up with postal messages and try to do everything until February 5. After this date, according to Mikhail Zhamchuzhny, he will be isolated in the punitive confinement again and will not be able to give an answer for a month. "Do not use foreign words and letters in the texts, cynical statements against the authorities, slang expressions," – the political prisoner asks his potential clients.

Zhamchuzhny asks his colleagues in the letters not to send him anything: "I do not need anything here – everything is there! It’s not my first year of imprisonment (8.5 years, four of them in prison, six months in a punishment cell, of which one hundred days without a break."

He writes that despite all this, he does not suffer morally or physically, nobody tries to humiliate him or insult him. On the contrary, a lot of people support him and share his political views and his stern stance towards the colony administration.

Being in difficult life circumstances, Mikhail Zhamchuzhny did not forget to congratulate his colleagues on the holiday (Human Rights Day – Ed.) and wish them health and success in their hard work.