Political prisoner has a progressing cancer. He is undergoing chemotherapy at the prison hospital
Political prisoner Pavel Kuchynski, a Maladzečna resident, was assigned the first group of disabilities: he has stage four Hodgkin's lymphoma. Despite his cancer, he has been imprisoned for almost two years. In June last year, he was sentenced to five years in a penal colony, and following an appeal, the sentence was reduced by only three months. Instead of the colony, Pavel was sent to the republican hospital in Kaliadzičy, where the political prisoner is currently undergoing chemotherapy. But the treatment does not help, so the disease progresses. There was a consultation with doctors concerning bone marrow transplant, but this cannot be done in prison.
Pavel is a Catholic believer; he graduated from the Department of Radio Engineering and Nanotechnology of Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics and then worked at Integral plant in Minsk.
The political prisoner was diagnosed in March 2021, but signs of the disease appeared in the fall of 2020. Doctors diagnosed Pavel with stage four Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Pavel was detained on January 26, 2022. At first, his family was told that Pavel had been detained for three days, and then it turned out that he would be held in custody until trial. His relatives went to Baraŭliany hospital to get papers confirming that he needed treatment, constant examinations and could not be kept in such conditions; they wrote to the prosecutor's office and the administration of Lukashenka, but nothing helped.
The relatives managed to get Pavel to be taken to Baraŭliany for an examination, which showed that Pavel's health deteriorated and the inflammatory process began. When his mother brought the results of the examination to the investigator with a request for help, the latter said that he allegedly did not complain and that relatives "delay the process by these actions."
As a result, Pavel was charged under five articles of the Criminal Code for comments on the Internet. His trial began behind closed doors on June 2, 2022 in the Vilejka District Court. Judge Kanstantsin Kaliadau sentenced Kuchynski to five years of imprisonment.
In July 2022, during the medical rehabilitation expert commission, Pavel was assigned the first disability group; before that, he had a disability of the second group.
On September 2, the Minsk Regional Court considered the appeal of the political prisoner, and as a result his sentence was reduced by three months: from five years in prison to four years and nine months. But at the same time, a fine of 3,840 rubles was added.
Severe sentence for political prisoner with stage-IV cancer
The political prisoner was supposed to be sent to a medium security penal colony, but due to cancer, he was placed in the republican hospital in Kaliadzičy. It should be kept there for diagnostics for cancer patients. In this hospital, patients are not kept in wards, but in ordinary cells that have been rebuilt for medical needs.
As it became known to Viasna, chemotherapy does not help Pavel and the disease is progressing. After the examinations, the course of treatment changed, but the political prisoner did not get better. He also had a consultation with doctors about a bone marrow transplant, but due to imprisonment and conditions of detention, it is impossible to do this.
It is known that Pavel tried to send a petition for clemency to Lukashenka. The political prisoner was even transferred to a colony for a few days for this, but in the end, when he was transported to the hospital, the petition was returned to him.
Support Pavel with letters and postcards:
ARB TA, 220030, Minsk, vul. Valadarskaha, 2, ward No. 7
Pavel Andreyevich Kuchynski
