‘All For Riot’: Activists Telling About Riot In ‘Wolves Burrows’Colony

The prisoners have put forward their demands to the administration of the colony.

The prisoners’ riot flamed up in the night of Saturday to Sunday in the penal colony #22 near Ivatsevichy, leader of the Mothers 328 movement Larysa Zhyhar told Radio Liberty.

According to her, some prisoners put forward their demands to the administration of the colony - to stop the prejudice against convicts under Article 328 of the Criminal Code, who are constantly punished for minor violations.

Activists of the Mothers 328 movement sent a petition to Aleh Matkin, head of the Department for the Execution of Punishments of the Interior Ministry, but no action was taken. They are going to file a new petition in a couple of days, but for now they are trying to find out what is happening in the colony.

The mother of one of the prisoners, who was in the colony from Friday to Monday on a meeting with her son, reported that she lived in a separate room at the territory of the colony, but heard unusual screams.

“On Saturday evening, suddenly we heard many voices screaming, as they do at a stadium. Then it became quiet, then again. They screamed at 22.20 after the lockdown. We were surprised. Then we heard service dogs running past at on the territory, and then the equipment was moving.

Until Monday, there was silence, but the prisoners said that some of the chiefs were dismissed, new bosses commanded from Brest,” said the woman, who asked not reveal her name.

In the “Belarusian prison” community in the social network VKontakte there was also a message about a riot in the colony #22. The authors noted that they had received information directly from the colony.

“All the convicts rose, in all the detachments. The door was blocked in the detachments, several representatives of the administration were injured. The convicts demanded to dismiss the administration! They waited for Matkin for the whole Sunday, but he did not come, ”- stated in the message posted in the community.

The press-center of the Department for the Execution of Punishments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs has not yet commented on the situation.

“Send a written request,” the press-center told the journalists.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs is checking information about the riot of prisoners in the correctional colony near Ivatsevichi, said the head of the information and public relations department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Heorhi Yeuchar.

“We are checking on this,” he said.