Political prisoner Siarhei Kavalenka, who has been on a hunger strike since 20 December last year, is being forced to stop his hunger strike. On 17 March Kavalenka’s wife Alena said that she was going to lodge a complaint against such actions of the administration of the Minsk detention centre.

“This is not treatment, it’s torture”, Alena Kavalenka comments on the fact that her husband got on a drip as a result of coercive measures, after which a haematoma appeared on his arm.

Alena Kavalenka will also appeal against the decision on compulsory examination of her husband in a psychiatric hospital. On 14 March he was diagnosed with adjustment disorder and it was recommended for him to undergo psychiatric examination for further diagnosis and possible treatment in a psychiatric hospital. The prisoner’s wife voices her opinion:

“It turns out that he will not go to an ordinary hospital, but they are going to send him to the mental asylum, and make a madman out of him. I believe this to be the continuation of torture and humiliation”.

Kavalenka forcibly injected

On 19 March the political prisoner’s brother Vital and Siarhei’s seven-year-son Valiantsin visited Siarhei Kavalenka in prison on Valadarskaya street. After the meeting, Vital Kavalenka said that Siarhei was almost completely bedridden and could hardly walk into the room for the meeting.

“They still do not force-feed him, but simply inject drugs. This is done in a cell in the presence of eight policemen. This is done against his will – he refuses to be injected with anything. I asked what they inject him with and he said – I don’t know what it is. He began to feel worse after these procedures started. Two persons guard his cell and inside there is another prisoner, who, according to Siarhei, was intentionally put in the cell. Siarhei informed that this morning he, being half-awaked, heard that a policeman entered his cell and told the other prisoner to confirm in the court that Kavalenka ate with him”.

The family of Siarhei Kavalenka is concerned about the forced termination of his hunger strike. The relatives demand from the prison authorities to transfer Siarhei to a civilian hospital. The authorities refuse to do it on purpose, Lidziya Kavalenka, Siarhei’s mother, is convinced:

“If they want to save him, they should do it wisely and properly. He has to be transferred to the intensive care department, but they are embarrassed to show my son’s condition to a hospital. Therefore, he is isolated from society and from people”.

“He helped with his hands to move his leg over the bench”
On 21 March Alena Kavalenka met with Siarhei. She informed that Siarhei came to the meeting room more than 5 minutes later than the rest of the prisoners who met with their families at the same time

“Even the policeman told me – “Wait a minute, he will be here soon, it is difficult for him”. I was with my daughter. He was very emaciated, very weak and exhausted. Obviously, it’s hard for him to move, the foot hardly reacts. He helped with his hands to move his leg over the bench. His skin colour is yellow. The temperature ranges between 35.1-35.2 °C. Three days ago his weight was 50 kilograms, after than he was not weighed. Salivation has stopped. He gets a drip forcibly as before – while fastened to the bed. Eight people are present during this. Two officers are permanently guarding the cell, talking loudly all night. He says – maybe they do it on purpose to deprive him of his rest? “

Alena Kavalenka said that her husband was still determined to continue the hunger strike and his struggle for justice.

***

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 the suspended sentence. The next day, the activist went on hunger strike to protest against the arbitrary detention and prosecution. Since then, Kavalenka lost 30 kg of weight. On 24 February he was sentenced to two years and one month imprisonment in a colony. He is now under arrest and is determined to continue the hunger strike demanding transfer to a civil hospital and repeal of the sentence.

Related articles

Belarusian political prisoner continues hunger strike

The hunger strike as a protest against the persecution

Pressure and threats to life and health – the news of political prisoners