Chernobyl Liquidator Vasil Silivestr Stops Hunger-strike

On 27 August the liquidator of the consequences of Chernobyl accident Vasil Silivestr came from Kalinkavichy to the Homel scientific-practical center of radiation medicine to make a public statement about termination of the hunger-strike of protest that was started by him last week. 

Bear in mind that last week Mr. Silivestr had a medical examination in the center. He asked the medics to find out whether his illnesses and disability were caused by the radiation. The medical council of the center stated that it could not qualify his illnesses and disability as consequences of Chernobyl without additional information from the military unit where Silivestr served in 1988. As a result Vasil Silivestr went on a hunger-strike. 

Silivestr was most insulted with paragraph 4 of the council’s recommendation to him: ‘Due to the repeated demonstrative blackmail behavior which manifested in three hunger-strikes in the past and a threat of hunger-strike after the council sitting we recommend to you examination at Homel regional mental hospital for complex evaluation of psychical and emotional state.’ 

‘When my army service was over, the commandant of military unit #98312 officially thanked me for my courage and high moral and psychological qualities. Now a scientific-practical council directs me to a mental hospital to examine my health there. I asked the medics whether my illnesses are connected with the influence of radiation and they answer: ‘Go to the mental hospital,’ commented the liquidator. 

By the way, some of those who liquidated the consequences of Chernobyl accident together with him, Aliaksei Bondar and Heorhi Raiko from Mazyr, are already dead. The regional inter-departmental expert council issued the following conclusion to their relatives: ‘The death was caused by the illnesses that were connected with work for liquidation of the consequences of the accident at Chernobyl atomic power plant’.

‘I terminated the hunger-strike because of a strong heartache and increase of the blood pressure. However, it does not mean that I will stop struggling for my rights and for confessing that my illnesses and disability result from my work in Chernobyl. I hope that the head of the state may hear my voice and will finally turn attention to the health and the problems of Chernobyl liquidators,’ stated Silivestr. 

Now he, together with other liquidators, intends to apply to the International Court on Human Rights as a victim of Chernobyl catastrophe.