HRC Viasna Obtains New Witnesses about Tortures in Belarusian Prisons

The prisoners write: ‘Our despair makes us apply to you. The matter is that outrage and lawlessness flourish in IK-10. They proceed from the colony administration that completely ignores the Law and the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus. All urges to abide by the legal requirements remain unanswered. People are kept in cells for years without the appropriate medical aid. They are arbitrary beaten. The guards fracture their arms, ribs. People are mutilated and even have to commit suicides. Healthy people are kept together with those who are ill with AIDS, tuberculosis and hepatitis. It seems to us the task of the colony administration is to physically liquidate prisoners. They make us work as if we were slaves, without paying anything to us. Anyone who expresses his dissatisfaction is punished in the manner that makes Gestapo look like a playgame. There are no nippers and birches to add to the atmosphere of the penal colony, but handcuffs and truncheons successfully replace them.