Monitoring Committee of the Mahilyou Region Denied Access to Political Prisoners

"Everything's fine" in Horki correctional facility No. 9.

The administration of correctional facility (CF) No. 9 denied the monitoring committee of the main Department of Justice of the Mogoblispolkom (Mahilyou Regional Executive Committee) access to political prisoner Mikhail Zhemchuzhny, Mahilyou "Viasna" writes.

Earlier, civil rights defender Tatstsyana Pavyaka asked the regional and republican public monitoring committees (PMC) to examine Horki CF No. 9, where Zhemchuzhny is confined. According to her, on January 24 the man was severely beaten by another convict.

On March 13 the Mahilyou regional and republican comittees examined confinement conditions of CF No. 9. However, two MC practiced diffrent approaches, Barys Bukhel, the regional representative of the committee, tells:

— The Republican Committee treated us with some viligance. Tatstsyana and I made notes in our notebooks; we fell under the impression that they were just walking around. When I asked the administration of the correctional facility to meet with Zhemchuzhny, the Republican PMC aligned itself with the administration. Tatstsyana Krauchanka, member of "the Council of the Republic" headed it, Bukhel told.

He and the Chairman of the regional committee Tatstsyana Kazlouskaya were not provided transportation to Horki. In order to respond to a plea about threat to life and health of the prisoner, problems had to be solved privately.

- We were not welcomed. Our main objective was to meet with political prisoner Mikhail Zhemchuzhny. However, the CF made its best to prevent it. At the moment, he is in the penalty ward. We were denied access to penalty wards, we were shown only one ward-type room. The situation is a bit better there than in penalty wards. When I asked about Zhemchuzhny again, the administration categorically rejected my request, the human rights defender said.

The administration of the CF stated that the Mahilyou MC had no authority for a personal meeting with the prisoner.

The Republican PMC planned to survey other prisoners, but it was not transparent:

-The Republican Committee gave questionnaires to the administration at the beginning of the visit, and at the end of the visit it collected them. The data reliability is questionable, Bukhel states.

However, there was one complaint among prisoners:

- There were three people in the ward-type room we visited. Two of them told that standards were met, and the third complained on yesterday's absence of hot water in the bath, cold in the ward - the battery was not warm enough and the window was not completely shut. Representatives of the administration denied all those facts blaming the prisoner for an attempt to retaliate, Bukhel told.

The civil rights defender mentioned some positive moments: the quality of food and absence of over-incarceration.

It's the second time when the PMC is denied access to Mikhail Zhemchuzhny and other political prisoners. Earlier the PMC could not get Dzmitry Paliyenka in Babruisk correstional facility No. 2.