Navapolatsk entrepreneur Yauheniya Bochurnaya declares indefinite hunger-strike

According to unofficial information, on 4 September Navapolatsk entrepreneur Yauheniya Bochurnaya, director of the open stock society Votrzzha, declared an indefinite hunger-strike. This was stated to the BelaPAN by her husband, Uladzimir Zhurba.

According to him, the convict ventured to do it in connection with the prohibition to buy foodstuffs in the prison shop. ‘My wife often wrote complaints against the incarceration conditions to the department of the execution of penalties, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the prosecutor’s office. The prison administration was looking for any reasons to punish her. The brigade where my wife is serving her term has not leisure room. She sleeps in the corridor because of absence of places, though she is a pensioner, allergic and has illnesses of digestive organs. There are no fresh vegetables in the prison, the money transfers are delayed, the correspondence is returned and the medical aid is very bad. Bochurnaya wrote about it all to the department and the ministry and received punishments from the prison administration as a result,’ commented Mr. Zhurba. As said by him, the last reprimand she received was for sitting on the bed in the daytime, which is prohibited by the prison rules.

Mr. Zhurba has filed a complaint with the Prosecutor General of Belarus Ryhor Vasilevich concerning the incarceration conditions. ‘I have many times been at the department of penalty executions, but they did not listen to what I said, that’s why I addressed the prosecutor,’ explained the entrepreneur. In this complaint he asks the official to restore the constitutional rights and liberties of the citizens who are serving their prison terms in Homel colony and punish the officials who are guilty of violating the international norms of incarceration.

Mrs. Bochurnaya was accused under eight articles of the Criminal Code. The charges were changed four times before the trial. Finally, she was found guilty under Article 216 of the Criminal Code, ‘damage to property without the traits of theft) and sentenced to 3.5 years of jail. Her prison term ends on 8 October.

The administration of the women’s prison gives no comments on information about the hunger-strike.