Picks of the week
Prison authorities are still putting severe restrictions on political prisoner Mikhail Zhamchuzhny in his attempts to communicate with his friends and associates. Leanid Svetsik, a human rights defender in Viciebsk, says he only received one letter in six months.
- Mikhail Zhamchuzhny, founder of the Platform Innovation human rights NGO
“This year, I have sent Zhamchuzhny five letters and one postcard. But I haven’t received any messages from him. This fact makes me believe that the administration of penal colony 9 has been systematically violating the prisoner’s civil rights,” Svetsik said.
Zhamchuzhny also said in the letter that he had been in a punishment cell for 10 days, after he was allegedly two minutes late for bedtime. The prisoner believes that the actual reason for the penalty is a request to view answers to his appeals.
Artsiom Markin, activist of a Belarusian anarchist group, was arrested in Russia’s Tver during a scientific conference on July 8. The police said that he was on Russian travel ban list. The activist was then, however, sentenced to three days in jail on charges of involvement in an illegal event.
- Artsiom Markin
“This year, Russia has intensified repression against anarchists. We believe that Artsiom is in a real danger, as he can be subjected to psychological and physical pressure,” his associates said.
181 professions are on the government’s list of jobs that still can’t be occupied by women, a research by Her Rights initiative said.
Women cannot work as rescue divers, carpenters, intercity bus drivers, or tanners.
Such lists are still in place in 8 former Soviet countries, and until recently they existed in Georgia, Armenia and Ukraine.
The restrictions argue that these jobs may affect women’s health. In reality, this list has no medical evidence.
- Stefania Kulaeva (left) during the presentation of a report on discrimination of women in employment. July 9, 2018. Minsk
“Health care is an individual thing. There are women who, for example, are not advised to fly a plane during pregnancy. But at the same the profession of a flight attendant is currently not forbidden for women, and it will never be banned,” Stefania Kulaeva of the Anti-Discrimination Center “Memorial” said at a presentation of the research on July 9 in Minsk.
