Recently, the activist was sentenced to two years and one month imprisonment. Kavalenka’s wife appealed to the International Red Cross and to the Prosecutor General office.
On 24 February, the Vitsebsk District Court Judge Alena Zhuk sentenced a Belarusian opposition activist Siarhei Kavalenka to two years and one month imprisonment in a correctional facility. The charge brought against him was violation of suspended sentence.
Siarhei Kavalenka had been serving a three-year suspended sentence for putting out a white-red-white flag on the Vitsebsk central Christmas tree in 2010. On 19 December 2011, he was arrested with the pretext of violating suspended sentence. The next day, the activist went on hunger strike to protest against the arbitrary detention and prosecution, and he is determined to go on.
Since then, Kavalenka lost 30 kg of weight. While in custody, his health deteriorated and he was recently taken to prison hospital. Siarhei Kavalenka continues hunger strike, demanding transfer to a civil hospital and repeal of the penalty.
On 2 March, Alena Kavalenka, the wife of Siarhei, telephoned the office of the International Red Cross in Geneva asking for help:
"I want them to help, at least visit him or try to visit. Even in times of war, the Red Cross has helped people, maybe it can help now".
At the moment, Alena Kavalenka does not know what kind of help they can provide. The request of the woman was recorded by a Red Cross employee who spoke Russian. She asked Alena to call back the same afternoon as the time difference between Geneva and Minsk was 2 hours.
Alena Kavalenka also wrote a petition to the Prosecutor General office with a request to put her husband in a civil hospital where, according to Alena, he would get better treatment and better conditions of detention.
Moreover, Siarhei did not trust prison doctors and the Interior Ministry in general. Alena learned that Siarhei continued the hunger strike. She said his condition had worsened and he found it difficult to move.
"The lawyer visited him. He said Siarhei was still on hunger strike, he demanded a transfer to a civil hospital and a change in preventive measures. He felt very weak, complaining that it was hard for him to sit and lie", Alena Kavalenka said.
On 27 February Kavalenka’s family informed Special Rapporteur of UN Human Rights Council about the situation with the political prisoner, who keeps being on a hunger strike after he has been sentenced again on 24 February. The documents had been prepared with the help of Vitsebsk human right defenders.
Acording to Alena Kavalenka, the wife of political prisoner, the information was taking into consideration urgently, as Special Rapporteur informed the competent authorities of the Republic of Belarus.
Meanwhile, Judge Alena Zhuk, who passed the sentence on Kavalenka, has allowed relatives to visit the activist in Minsk Republican Prison Hospital. On 5 March, Siarhei Kavalenka was visited by his brother Vitali and seven-year old son Valiantsin.
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