Human Rights Activists Call To Visit Mikhail Zhamchuzhny

The political prisoner is in an emergency situation.

Human rights activist Tatsiana Reviaka appealed to the Republican and Mahiliou regional public monitoring commissions in connection with the emergency situation that has developed around the political prisoner Mikhail Zhamchuzhny in the Horki penal colony No. 9, HRC Viasna reports.

In her statement, the human rights activist draws the commissions’ attention to the fact that the colony administration does not react to Mikhail Zhamchuzhny's constant requests to provide him with safe conditions for serving his sentence, but instead it continuously enforces penalties for refusals to join the detachment formed from "low status" convicts.

"At the moment, there are 18 charges against Mikhail Zhamchuzhny because of these refusals, which are treated by the administration of the Horki penal colony No. 9 as a violation of the established order of serving the sentence: he has been placed to a ward-type room twice – each time for a period of one month, and 16 times – to a punishment cell for various periods. The convict will appeal against the set penalties in the order established by law to the court and the prosecutor's office," – Tatsiana Reviaka emphasizes.

She is also concerned by the fact that on January 24, the political prisoner was beaten by other convicts in the corridor of the medical unit, with the non-interference and connivance of the colony's employees.

Tatsiana Reviaka asks the Republican and Mahiliou regional public monitoring commissions to visit the penal colony No. 9, meet with Mikhail Zhamchuzhny and talk to him about the conditions of his detention, contact the head of the institution for him to explain the reasonability of the prosecution of the political prisoner and the imposition of penalties for him, and also to inquire the information and documents necessary for providing public control, and, in the end, an opinion on the violation of the convict’s rights.

We remind that Mikhail Zhamchuzhny’s problems started after his transfer to the Horki colony, where the unbearable conditions for serving his sentence were created with the connivance of the administration and because of cruel and degrading persecution connected with the establishment of informal relations among prisoners.