Political prisoner Uladzimir Yaromenak released from detention facility

Uladzimir Yaromenak gave the first interview to charter97.org after the release.

“Of course, I am happy to leave the detention facility. I know my friends and family, first of all my wife who pregnant with our daughter, are waiting for me. I can't yet say about my plans for the future. I have a family. I cannot make decisions for three persons alone. We'll decide together how we will live,” he said.

The political prisoner said about the confinement conditions in Baranavichy.

“The term can be divided into two parts. The first was in the old building, the second one in the new building. The old building is like a pre-trial detention facility in Valadarski Street. The new unit, which was built in the late 2000s, is better. They try to fulfill the legislation: four square metres per inmate, a bed and so on,” Uladzimir Yaromenak said.

The activist notes it's possible he may be thrown in jail again if he continues his political activity.

“I don't rule out the probability of imprisonment. If I continue my activity as an opposition activist, it's possible that they will look for violations and open criminal cases against me,” he said.

Uladzimir Yaromenak was involved in the criminal case over mass protests in Minsk on December 19, 2010. He was sentenced to three years in prison and pardoned by Lukashenka in August 2011. Yaromenak was placed under preventive supervision. He was tried twice since then. On April 27, 2012, he was given seven days in custody allegedly for disorderly conduct. On January 24, 2013, he was sentenced to 12 days in custody for violating the rules of preventive supervision.

Human rights activists say the preventive supervision is used by the Belarusian authorities against former political prisoners to control them and exclude them from activism.