Mikhail Zhamchuzhny: I Thank Everyone Who Supports Me With Letters And In Media

Vitsebsk human rights activists received a letter from the political prisoner for the first time in six months.

Mikhail Zhamchuzhny writes that he sent three letters to Vitsebsk in the last six months, but received no replies. As Vitsebsk based HRS Viasna informs, this surprises the local human rights activist Leanid Svetsik.

"This year I sent five letters to Zhamchuzhny and one greeting card. And I did not receive any messages from him. Mikhail and I have been regularly corresponding for three years already. And this fact leads me to the idea that the penal colony 9 systematically violates the civil rights of political prisoner Zhamchuzhny," – Leanid Svetsik believes.

Mikhail Zhamchuzhny also reports in the letter, that he was kept in a cell-type facility until June 19, because he was sentenced to 10 days in a punishment cell at the end of May for allegedly being late to perform the "lights out" command for two minutes.

In fact, the true reason for the punishment was the political prisoner’s request to the administration to give him the opportunity to get acquainted with the responses to complaints in his criminal case.

The Department of Internal Security of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Vitsebsk region was to investigate the facts of extorting a bribe from the political prisoner by Zhukau, a senior operative of the Kastrychnitski district police department of Vitsebsk. These documents, as Mikhail Zhamchuzhny believes, would give him the right to review the case, rehabilitate and justify himself.

"I received the documents on the same day, because I demanded them in the presence of the prosecutor, but for that I got 10 days of the punitive confinement," – Zhamchuzhny writes.

In his short letter, the political prisoner also tells human rights defenders how he feels and what he does. "My health is fine, the mood is excellent. I will appeal against the regime of detention to the prosecutor's office of Mahiliou region," – Mikhail says.

Traditionally, he thanks all those who support him with letters and in the media.