Political prisoner Frantskevich forced to apply for pardon
Tatsiana Frantskevich,
the mother of political prisoner Aliaksandr
Frantskevich, and a lawyer visited the “Vouchyia Nory” penal colony. The
mother of the political prisoner told charter97.org Aliaksandr Frantskevich,
who had a kidney removed after an accident, was thrown into a punishment cell
for refusal to fulfill insulting demands of the prison authorities.
“I visited him because he had been given ten days in the punishment cell. The
term expired yesterday. Fortunately, the weather was warm and he felt more or
less good there,” Tatsiana Frantskevich said.
“Aliaksandr was placed into the punishment cell because he refused to sweep the
floor in the cell. It is considered to be a work of low-status inmates, the so
called downcasts. But my son has only one kidney. They did not have the right
to punish him for such a small fault. The prison administration said they did
not think absence of a kidney was a disease.” the mother of the political
prisoner stressed.
“He earlier refused to obey humiliating orders in prison, but it's the first
time when he has been thrown into the punishment cell for refusal to sweep the
floor. I think they want him to surrender, force him to apply for a pardon.
They already offered him to ask for a pardon, but he refused,” the mother of
the anarchist noted.
“I will send medicines to him. The lawyer says he has no complaints and looks
good. But even a simple cold can cause a serious illness,” Tatsiana
Frantskevich worries.
Bear in mind that on 27 May 2011 Judge of Zavadski District Court of Minsk Zhanna Khvainitskaya sentenced Aliaksandr
Frantskevich to three years in a medium security penal colony. Also, anarchists
Mikalai Dziadok and Ihar Alinevich were given 4.5 and 8 years
in prison respectively. The political prisoners were accused of attacking
several governmental and private buildings and throwing Molotov cocktails at
the Russian embassy on 30 August 2010.
