"Society Should React To Such Things As Meeting Cancellation For Dzmitry Palienka"

The colony authorities are trying to pressure the political prisoner before his release.

Aliaksandr Palienka, the father of political prisoner Dzmitry Palienka, was going to a long meeting with his son on September 25, but the meeting was cancelled.

"September 24, Dzmitry should be released, but now some strange things are happening," – Aliaksandr Palienka said to the site palitviazni.info.

"I was to visit him at the beginning of this month, but during the phone conversation my son said that something was not going well there," – Aliaksandr Palienka said. – Therefore, it was decided that I would come on September 25 for a long meeting, just a month before Dzmitry's release."

As it turned out later, this meeting will not happen either, as by Dzmitry Palienka's acquaintance Maryna Nasenka reported.

"Dmitry should be released on October 24," – she wrote on her social networking page. – Prior to that, he had planned a meeting with his father on September 25. – But the other day, the colony administration searched his belongings: they seized all the letters and postcards he received, all pens, all letters he wanted to send the other day, including records with relatives' phone numbers."

According to Maryna Nasenka, his meeting with his father was canceled because these things "did not correspond to the list." Consequently, the prisoner will not be able to get the care package that his friends and relatives want to pass him along through his father.

"A month to go before the release ...they are trying to put maximum pressure on the prisoner, "as the legislation allows," as long as there is an opportunity," – Nasenka adds. – We believe the society should not ignore such cases..."

Dzmitry Palienka is a social activist from Minsk. His participation in the peaceful Critical Mass event, which took place in Minsk and was interrupted by the police on April 29, 2016, became the reason for the criminal prosecution.

On October 12, 2016, the Tsentralny District Court of Minsk found him guilty of committing a crime under Article 364 of the Criminal Code (violence or threat of violence against employees of internal affairs bodies) and Part 2 of Article 343 of the Criminal Code (production and distribution of pornographic materials). According to the verdict, Dzmitry Palienka was sentenced to two years in prison with suspended execution of sentence.

On April 7, 2017, the Zavadski district court of Minsk considered the submission of a body monitoring the behavior of the convict (most likely, the Zavadski District Internal Affairs Directorate), and the suspension of the execution of punishment was canceled. The activist was sent to the correctional colony to serve 1.5 years of imprisonment (taking into account the time spent in detention pending trial in 2016) without the right to appeal.

You can send letters to support Dzmitry Palienka to the address: 213800 Mahiliou Region, Babruisk, 1 Sikorski street. Correctional colony No. 2, Detachment 9.