
Prison in Grodno (Photo: Jana Shnipelson)
The so-called presidential elections will take place in Belarus on 26 January. In the run-up to the propaganda show, Libereco and Viasna draw attention to the critical situation of political prisoners.
On Sunday, 26 January, dictator Alexander Lukashenko’s regime in Belarus will stage presidential elections. The authorities will undoubtedly declare the current ruler the winner once again.
However, unlike in 2020, no significant protest is expected this time. Large sections of the population live in fear, and persecution and repression of political dissidents are everyday occurrences. The Belarusian human rights organisation Viasna currently counts over 1200 political prisoners. But the list of those sentenced to long prison terms for political reasons is much longer, as many relatives decide against publishing their case for fear of reprisals.
Given the upcoming election show, Libereco and Viasna draw attention to the critical situation of the detainees. “My thoughts are about the thousands of Belarusian prisoners of conscience, who are marked with special yellow tags in Belarusian labor camps, with conditions that are incomparably harsher than those of the rest of the prisoners,” says Belarusian human rights defender Leanid Sudalenka of Viasna.
Leanid Sudalenka was imprisoned for years
The 58-year-old was imprisoned for three years himself for taking part in the peaceful protests that followed the 2020 election fraud. Due to the ongoing repression, Sudalenka was forced to leave Belarus. In response, the Lukashenka regime brought new charges of “facilitating extremist activity”, sentencing him in absentia to five years in prison as a “repeated offender”.
“Stress and a constant aggressive environment slowly take away the health of the prisoners. Especially in punishment cells, where political prisoners are tortured with cold, where warm clothes are taken away, mattresses and bed linen are not given, where there is poor nutrition, lack of vitamins and outdoor time. Where political prisoners are kept in solitary confinement for months and sometimes years – without contact with the outside world and appropriate medical care,” Sudalenka recalls.
Prisoners’ health is becoming increasingly serious
Libereco has been providing medical and psychosocial support to victims of political persecution in Belarus since 2020. The German-Swiss human rights organisation evaluated several hundred cases of former prisoners.
“We see that the health of released political prisoners is increasingly deteriorating due to the long periods of detention and the inhumane prison conditions: damp and cold cells, malnutrition, lack of movement and little or no direct sunlight. Many prisoners were abused and tortured, too,” explains Marco Fieber, Libereco Germany’s Executive Director.
He emphasises: “Without exception, all released prisoners show serious physical and mental damage. Most frequently, we document teeth, eyes, kidneys, joints, lungs and gastrointestinal tract diseases. We are also seeing an increase of cases with cancer and HIV, which either first appeared or worsened in prison.”
Human rights activist and ex-prisoner Sudalenka adds: “In the breaks between isolation cells, political prisoners are forcibly sent to dirty and harmful work in cold industrial workshops. Given the long duration of these hardships, few will survive without harm to their health. As a result, already seven deceased Belarusian political prisoners could not withstand the torture and have died in custody. This is what haunts me, worries me and does not leave me alone every day!”