Vitsebsk Human Rights Defender: The Situation With Zhemchuzhny Requires Solution

The political prisoner is in the information blockade.

Vitsebsk human rights defender Leanid Svetsik informed palitviazni.info that he had not received a letter from Mikhail Zhemchuzhny since this January.

"I intend to apply to the State Department of Corrections, as it's obvious that the information blockade for Zhemchuzhny is intended," the human rights defender says.

The other day HRC Viasna was informed that the political prisoner Mikhail Zhemchuzhny had got other 10 days in the isolation ward. On April 10 he was put in the ward-type room (WTR) for two months in correctional facility No. 9, Horki. This has been the 28th penalty rendered by of the Horki administration since August 2017.

In addition, Mikhail Zhemchuzhny still have problems with communication. The fate of letters written and sent by the political prisoner (35 sheets) is not known.

"We regularly correspond with Mikhail, but the last letter of him was received this January, human rights defender Leanid Svetsik says. - I wrote four letters and congrats on Freedom Day, but still have no answer. Although he has always answered my every letter".

Leanid Svetsik notes that he's concerned about the situation and he intends to seek explanations either in the State Department of Corrections of the Mahilyou region or in the correctional facility itself.

"Obviously, such the information blockade for Zhemchuzhny is intended, he adds. - Mikhail often wrote about rules in the correctional facility, about deeds of the administration, and it might be censored. It initiated the information vacuum for Zhemchuzhny. This is a completely abnormal situation that requires a solution."