Consideration of the appeal at the Regional Court had begun as early as 10 April. Then the court decided to send Kavalenka to a hospital for a complex psychiatric examination. As a result, the opposition activist was being examined at the Republican Centre for Mental Health in Navinki for almost a month. Experts recognised him mentally healthy. On 18 May his cassational appeal was dismissed.

Relatives of Kavalenka under trial
Kavalenka’s wife Alena was detained early in the morning of 18 May, before the court session, for writing “Freedom to Siarhei Kavalenka” on the pavement. In such a way she wanted to express solidarity with the prisoner who went on a second hunger strike. The activist of “European Belarus” Alena Semenchukova and Siarhei Kavalenka’s cousin were detained together with Alena Kavalenka.

“We were detained by the police officers who had vigilantly guarded the court building since early morning. The police confiscated Alena Kavalenka’s camera, and we were taken to the Kastrychnitski police department”, informed Semenchukova.

The detainees were charged with disorderly conduct. The police report states that they allegedly violated the public order by means of spray cans and stencils. 

Semenchukova said that the detention was brutal:

“We made a stencil “Freedom to Kavalenka” and started to paint. The police ran up from all sides, three police cars drove up. The policemen swore, “Freeze, you bitch, or we’ll shoot!”. They pushed us into the car by force. Alena Kavalenka got her arms bruised. We were kept in the Kastrychnitski police station, questioned and searched. We are charged with Article 17.1 [disorderly conduct]. As if we had hooligan motives for doing that”.

Kavalenka’s wife, cousin and activist Semenchukova will have to appear in court on 30 May.

Siarhei Kavalenka resumes hunger strike
On 8 May Siarhei Kavalenka resumed his hunger strike. The political prisoner protests against his illegal, as he believes, sentence and incarceration.

Now the hunger striker puts forward new demands. In addition to protesting against his incarceration, Kavalenka demands the release all Belarusian political prisoners and freedom of using the Belarusian national symbols forbidden by the Lukashenka regime – white-red-white flag and Pahonia emblem.

The prisoner’s wife Alena says:

“Siarhei resumed the hunger strike on 8 May when he was taken to Vitsebsk prison. The last time he ate, as I learned later, was in the train when he was transferred. He resumed it, I think, because he had been denied adequate health care. The hunger strike was the last means of protecting his innocence and dignity. He had no other choice”.

Now, according to Alena Kavalenka, the physical condition of her husband is very bad, but he is denied adequate medical care.

“In accordance with the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights, signed by Belarus, and the Constitution of our country everyone has the right to health care, wherever he may be, if it is required, and Siarhei needs it badly. However, for some reason he is deprived of this right. Why are they destroying him? For the love of his Homeland, mother tongue and respect for national symbols”, said Alena Kavalenka.

***
Siarhei Kavalenka, an activist of the Conservative Christian Party of the Belarusian Popular Front, was sentenced to a 25 month imprisonment for violation of conditions of suspended sentence passed for placing a white-red-white flag atop the Christmas tree at Vitsebsk central square in 2010. Since mid-December 2011 until the end of March 2012, with a 20-day break, Kavalenka continued the hunger strike. As a result, his weight decreased to less than 50 kilograms. During his stay in the Republican Centre for Mental Health (Navinki) for the psychiatric examination Kavalenka stopped the hunger strike and gained about 10 kilograms of weight. His current weight is unknown.

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