Was the refusal to accept a parcel for the detained director general of “Uralkaliy” Vladislav Baumgertner legal?
To put it mildly,
employees of the Belarusian KGB paltered while refusing to accept a
parcel for the detained head of “Uralkaliy” Vladislav
Baumgertner.
As it became known from his lawyer, Aliaksei
Basistau, who represents the interests of the businessman's family,
on 28 August his mother tried to pass a parcel with personal
belongings and means of hygiene for him. However, the guards of the
remand prison refused to accept anything but a toothpaste,
toothbrush, soap and towel, saying that no other things could be
passed to Mr. Baumgertner due to his status of a detainee.
The
Human Rights Center “Viasna”, which has dealt with the monitoring
of penitentiary institutions for a long time, asked an experienced
lawyer and expert Pavel Sapelka to comment on the situation.
“In
fact, the Law "On the Procedure and Conditions of Detention"
does not distinguish between the rights of detainees and prisoners in
custody, and provides just one definition – "a person in
custody”. " In accordance with this law, detainees
shall have the right, inter alia, to receive
information about their rights and responsibilities, the
regime of detention, the procedure for filing
motions, proposals, applications and complaints, to personal security
in places of detention, to humane treatment and respect for their
human dignity; to receive
parcels, send and receive remittances; to correspondence and
additional material security.
The
people who are kept in custody are allowed to receive packages
without any limits, but their weight should not exceed the norms,
established by the postage rules, and also food parcels – not more
than 30 kilos a month. The financial transfers wich are passed to the
people who are kept in custody are put to their personal accounts,
about which they are informed by the organ which conducts criminal
proceedings against them. The parcels which contain medicines, are
accepted after the conclusion of the doctor at
the place of detention. The list of items and substances that are
prohibited for transfer to places of detention is
set by the internal
regulations of the respective institutions.
The
norms which must ensure that the rights, freedoms and legitimate
interests of persons held in custody, the implementation of their
duties, the supervision over them, the security of them and the
officers of the remand prison of the KGB are established
by the internal regulations in the remand prisons of the Republic of
Belarus. The Rules provide
the same rights for the detainees, as they cannot contravene
the law."
“It seems that a
long-established pattern is used towards the detainee: they try to
make him feel that he is abandoned by everyone and his fate is
completely in the hands of the investigation. This pattern includes
restrictions
on contacts with his
lawyer, "overcrowded"
investigative offices, prohibitions
to the lawyer to
disclose information of
the preliminary investigation, arrest
without court sanction, and as a result – violation of the
standards of fair trial since the first days of the criminal
prosecution”.
The Human Rights Center “Viasna” has
monitored the places of forced detention in Belarus during several
years, and issued the “Report on the results of the monitoring of
places of forced detentions in the Republic of Belarus” on its
results. This work continues even now: the received information is
analyzed, shortcomings of the
domestic penal law are
identified and recommendations for correcting
the existing problems
are prepared.