News on the topic: detention conditions
12.10.2021 Nearly 100 days in prison: Husband and wife convicted for seventh time over “extremist content” in private messages
On October 11, Siarhei Krupenich and Anastasiya Krupenich-Kandratsiyeva, a young couple in Minsk, were sentenced to 15 and 14 days of “administrative imprisonment” for exchanging “extremist content” in a private conversation on the Telegram messaging app.
06.10.2021 Political prisoners punished by solitary confinement for answering letters of solidarity
Political prisoners serving their sentences at penal colony No. 17 in Škloŭ are sent to solitary confinement or punishment cells if they reply to letters of support they receive from people they don’t know.
30.09.2021 Imprisoned punk rocker Ihar Bantsar to spend remainder of term in penal colony
The decision was taken in response to a request by the administration of correctional facility No. 9 in Viciebsk, where the man had already served three and a half months.
29.09.2021 Political prisoner Natallia Hersche to be sent to maximum-security mail prison
Political prisoner Natallia Hersche will serve the remainder of her 2 ½-year sentence in a maximum-security prison, after spending nearly 12 months in a general-security penal colony, RFE/RL’s Belarus service learned from Natallia’s brother Henadz Kasiyan.
18.08.2021 “No more fear they can be taken out for execution”. The Kostseu brothers meet with family for first time after pardon
Illia Kostseu and Stanislau Kostseu, two brothers and former death row prisoners, have been allowed to see their family for the first time since they were pardoned in April 2021, according to their sister Hanna.
06.08.2021 Viasna’s Andrei Paluda leaves Belarus, describes detention conditions as inhuman
Andrei Paluda, human rights defender of the Human Rights Center "Viasna" and coordinator of the campaign “Human Rights Defenders against the Death Penalty in Belarus”, has left Belarus after detention and imminent criminal charges.
16.06.2021 Stop torture and criminal prosecution of prisoner Artsiom Anishchuk!
Statement by the Board of the Human Rights Center "Viasna"
09.06.2021 Prisoner swallows “metallic objects” to protest torture
Artsiom Anishchuk swallowed several metallic objects to avoid “physical and psychological violence” he has been subjected to during his stay at penal colony No. 15 in Mahilioŭ, novychas.by said quoting the inmate’s lawyer, who managed to see his client for the first time since May 13.
26.05.2021 Ales Bialiatski on the death of political prisoner Vitold Ashurak
Can we hope that the Investigative Committee will conduct an objective investigation and find out the truth?
21.05.2021 Political prisoner Vitold Ashurak dies in detention
The 50-year-old opposition activist died while serving his 5-year term in the Škloŭ prison.
17.03.2021 Hunger strikes and suicide attempts by political prisoners in Belarus: German Members of Parliament show their solidarity
Political prisoners in Belarus protest against inhuman conditions in prison by starting hunger strikes. Two of the detainees have attempted to take their own lives in the past weeks.
16.01.2021 Support has no boundaries: how to write letters to political prisoners if you are outside of Belarus
Viasna has prepared the answers to the most frequent questions foreigners ask when writing letters to political prisoners.
16.12.2020 "They broke my nose and car because I had a white ribbon." Survivor stories
On the night of August 11-12, 31-year-old Minsk resident Mikalai Bondar was literally dragged from his car by law enforcement officers for a white ribbon on his arm. The traffic and riot policemen smashed his car, beat him, broke his nose, and took him to the detention center.
15.12.2020 Amnesty International: Tortured detainee denied medical care
Viachaslau Rahashchuk is a taxi driver from the Belarusian city of Pinsk who was arbitrarily detained in 10 August and remains behind bars. He is in need of urgent medical treatment due to injuries he sustained from being tortured while in detention.
14.12.2020 Violent protest dispersion resulted in a broken arm and a night at the detention center. Survivor stories
My knee was seriously injured, and in general the right side of my body was just smashed. There was a real psychopath among the riot policemen. When he detained me, he was on my right side, and the other riot policeman was on my left. While my left side was injured, but not critically, my right side was just smashed.
