At her trial, activist Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk reported beatings and pressure in the penal colony
On October 2, the Rechytski District Court began considering another criminal case against political prisoner activist Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk, who was sentenced to three years in a penal colony. The case is being considered by judge Stanislau Ivaniutsenka. The woman is again accused of "malicious disobedience to the administration of the colony" (Part 2 of Article 411 of the Criminal Code). At the trial, she reported beatings in the Zarechanskaya colony: her face and internal organs were severely damaged. At the initiative of the prosecutor, the trial was adjourned until October 9. Viasna recounts what happened at the first court hearing in the case of Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk.
Palina is a public activist from Brest, who was detained on January 3, 2021. The mother of two minor sons was charged under a number of articles of the Criminal Code: Article 364 (violence against police officers), Article 368 (insulting Lukashenka), and Article 369 (insulting a representative of the authorities). In June 2021, the Court of the Moscow District of Brest sentenced a woman to two years of imprisonment in a general security penal colony.
At the end of February 2022, a criminal case was opened against the political prisoner under Part 2 of Article 411 of the Criminal Code, and later she was sentenced to another year in prison. Palina is the first female political prisoner in Belarus convicted under this article. At a visiting session in the Homel colony on April 7, 2022, the activist was sentenced to another year in the colony.
Upon arrival in the colony, she was placed in a punitive confinement cell ("SHIZO"), where she spent 80 days almost continuously. After that, she was sent to a punishment cell (“PKT”) for six months and a new criminal case was opened under Article 411 of the Criminal Code.
Recently, Palina was sent for examination to the Navinki Republican Mental Health Center. But Palina refused the examination: she did not talk to doctors, refused to take any medications, and also refused to take any types of tests.
As a result, Palina was urgently sent to the Valadarka prison, and literally after a couple of night hours in the pre-trial detention center-1, she was sent back to colony No. 24 in Zarečča. Later it was reported that at the end of June Palina was severely beaten in the Zarečča colony.
Review of the news on political prisoners from September 12 to 19
She also reported the harsh conditions in the colony, the temporary detention facility of the Rechytsa district police department, and in the Homel pre-trial detention center which lasted for a year.
In addition, she reported the conditions of detention in Rechytsa temporary detention facility: she sleeps on the floor, as she has not been given a mattress or bed linen, and all her personal belongings have been taken away.
During the trial, the woman stressed that she did not consider herself a regular prisoner, but a prisoner of war. Her physical state reflects the harsh conditions in which she is kept.
Support the political prisoner with money transfers, parcels, and telegrams:
Temporary detention facility of the Department of Internal Affairs of the Rechytsa District Executive Committee. 247483, Homielskaja vobl., Rechytsa, vul. Savieckaja, 35
Palina Siarheyeuna Sharenda-Panasiuk
