BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

Wednesday, 13 April 2005

Belarus' First Colony Prison again

Contributed by David Ferguson

OSCE chief in Belarus Eberhard Heyken visited Alexander Vasilyev in the First Colony prison hospital in Minsk. In September 2004 Vasilyev, together with Valery Levonevski, was sentenced to two years of imprisonment for defaming the President of Belarus. The two stood accused of slandering Belarus President Lukashenko by distributing leaflets with a poem by an unknown author at an unauthorized rally in May 2004.

Heyken's meeting with Vasilyev lasted 45 minutes. The conversation focused on his state of health and on the prison conditions. Vasilyev, 59 years old, said that, due to surgery a number of years ago, he could not carry out heavy work. Despite high blood pressure, heart problems, Vasilyev should be transferred back to the prison colony No. 8 in Orsha in the next few days.

Last month OSCE Ambassador Heyken visited Michail Marinich, another opponent of president Alexander Lukashenko held at the First Colony Prison. Marinich was sentenced to five years at the end of 2004 in the high-security First Colony on charges that he misappropriated computers and other equipment from the US government. "I was pleased to see Mr Marinich, particularly after recent reports about the state of his health," said Heyken. "While his health has certainly deteriorated since our last meeting, his mental resolve remains strong." Richard Boucher, US State Department spokesperson, said the charges against Marinich are 'spurious' noting the US government has filed no complaint over the equipment: "The United States will consider measures it may take to hold accountable those Belarus officials who participate in such abuses of democratic procedures and human rights."

Belarus has come in for much criticism for its human rights record. "We should not shrink back from speaking of a dictatorship as that is exactly what is growing stronger in Belarus," said MEP Elisabeth Schroedter. "And this is also the situation when political prisoners like Michail Marinich, Valery Levonevski, Alexander Vasilyev and professor Jurij Bandaschewski suffer restrictions to their freedom."

Source:

http://euro-reporters.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=188&Itemid=1