Belarusian political prisoners who were released on 11 September and deported to Lithuania have compared prison conditions in Belarus to medieval torture.

Source: a press conference in Vilnius on 12 September, as reported by Radio Liberty’s Ukrainian service

Quote from anarchist Mikola Dziadok:"The world does not realise the scale of what is happening in Belarus – human rights violations, sexual and physical violence… I was held in solitary confinement in Grodno prison. I would wake up at night because grown men were literally howling. They were calling for their mothers. That’s how much they were suffering from the cold. They began to hear voices. No one beat them. But I have become convinced that you can drive a person to madness and death simply by leaving them in solitary confinement."

Деталі: "Інший звільнений 11 вересня Геннадій Фединич розповів, що вранці того дня, коли політв’язнів мали вивозити із СІЗО КДБ, їх навіть не погодували – дали чай і ложку каші: "Ніхто не став їсти, безумовно. Але ця ворожість, яка там існує, наводить на думку, що дії людей спрямовані на те, щоб зробити все гірше. Нічого, витримаємо".

Лідерка білоруських демократичних сил та голова Об'єднаного перехідного кабінету Світлана Тихановська заявила, що всі звільнені політв’язні повинні мати право виїхати чи залишитись у Білорусі.

"Ми всі раді бачити людей на волі, але називаймо речі своїми іменами. Те, що сталося вчора, – це не звільнення, а примусова депортація. Ми всі переживаємо за долю Миколи Статкевича, який відмовився виїжджати з Білорусі. І він мав на це право. Тепер його місце перебування невідоме. Його мужній вчинок нагадує вчинок Марії Колеснікової, яка розірвала свій паспорт", – сказала вона.

Details: Another released prisoner, Henadz Fiadynich, said that on the morning of 11 September, when the political prisoners were due to be taken from the KGB detention centre, they were not even given proper food – just some tea and a spoonful of porridge. "No one touched it, of course. But the hostility that exists there suggests that those people’s actions are aimed at making things worse. Never mind, we will endure."

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the Belarusian democratic leader and head of the United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus, said that all released political prisoners should have the right to either leave or remain in Belarus. 

Quote from Tsikhanouskaya: "We are all glad to see people free, but let’s call things by their name. What happened yesterday was not a release but a forced deportation. We are all concerned about the fate of Mikola Statkevich, who refused to leave Belarus. And he had the right to do so. Now his whereabouts are unknown. His courageous act echoes that of Maria Kalesnikava, who tore up her passport."

Details:The opposition leader added that her office will continue to press for the release of political prisoners and help those who are freed with paperwork. She said €85,000 had been raised in a single day to support them.

RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus, who spoke after Tsikhanouskaya, noted that the Trump administration was involved from the outset in securing the political prisoners’ release, and that without those efforts, it would not have happened.

Background:

• On 11 September, Belarus released 38 of its citizens and 14 foreign nationals – from Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Germany, France and the UK – from penal institutions. Among them was Radio Liberty journalist Ihar Losik, who had spent more than five years in prison.
• Trump, who held a phone conversation last month with self-proclaimed Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, said earlier this month that he hoped Minsk would release many of the hundreds of political prisoners.
• Andrei Pidnebenny, 36, has become the ninth political prisoner known to have died in prison in Belarus.

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