In September 2004 Valiery Lievanieuski (right), chair of the Nationwide Strike Committee of Businessmen, and his deputy Aliaksandr Vasilieu were found guilty ofinsult to Aliaksandr Lukashenka (violation of Article #367 of the Criminal Code) and sentenced to two years of colony. Recently the authorities have amnestied Aliaksandr Vasilieu. However, Valiery Lievanieuski wasn?t granted parole. (17-JULY-05)
On 7 July Aliaksandr Vasilieu was released after lunch from the Minsk prison in Kalvaryiskaia Street. At 8 p.m. he returned home in Hrodna. Several days before Mr. Vasilieu was summonsed to the amnesty commission, where they told him he was entitled to amnesty as a prisoner who had served a third of his term and did not have many violations.
On 30 June Valiery Lievanieuski was summonsed by the amnesty committee which told him that he had been refused amnesty because of his “poor conduct”. In his letter sent home Valiery Lievanieuski notes that amnesty first of all covers those who, even with several criminal records, have been able to get on good terms with the correctional facility administration.
The letter says that the only change in the life of the political prisoner was that he finally got the job of an orderly in the medical section of the prison, which in fact is a cleaner?s position. He will be paid 9 thousand rubles per month. Valiery Lievanieuski says in the letter that such work cannot make him happy but this is better than nothing.
