On 19 April Alena Kavalenka visited her husband in Navinki hospital.
“I couldn’t but notice that he is in a better mood. He looks slightly better, but still has health issues. He has acquired kidney problems caused by intentional unprofessional actions of the Vitsba-3 colony doctors. They inserted a special catheter to him, but did not remove it for a long time, and did not clean it properly”, Alena Kavalenka explains.
Siarhei Kavalenka claims that he was tortured in Vitsba-3 colony. In an attempt to force-feed him, he was tied to bed for three days and was not able to sleep while the lights were left on all night. The colony administration tried to influence him to stop hunger strike by finding him a “lowered down” (low-status) inmate. In protest, Kavalenka attempted suicide by slitting his wrists with a piece of glass from a lightbulb.
On 13 April it was announced that Kavalenka stopped the hunger strike. However, as his relatives complain, he does not get any proper assistance with recovering after a long fasting period. On 26 April his relative visited him in Navinki. Alena Kavalenka describes her impression:
“He was emaciated and pale. Apparently, this is due to low haemoglobin in his blood. He complained of the pain in subcostal area. Perhaps the pancreas does not work well, as it is damaged. The work of the stomach has not restored.
Another problem is that he does not receive the juice we send him in parcels. Some food that was accepted for him was returned to us later. Not everything he needs to fully recover after the hunger strike is allowed to be sent in parcels. This disappointed us a lot. We sent him a lot of medicines and vitamins for his liver, stomach and other organs, but he has not been given them. Our relative who visited him has a medical degree, and she asked a lot of detailed questions about it and found out that almost none of the medicines we send reaches him. In general, she came to a conclusion that, in fact, Siarhei recovers after the hunger strike uncontrollably; no examination of the state of his internal organs is conducted. During the day two people, a man and a woman, just watch him through the glass”.
Alena Kavalenka also complains about the lack of information about her husband: she does not receive letters from Siarhei, as in Navinki it is impossible to be in correspondence with relatives due to the absence of a censor. Siarhei Kavalenka is a prisoner, and perusal of prisoners’ correspondence is a mandatory requirement. However, mental health clinic cannot meet this requirement, as it does not employ a censor. Letters that people write are collected to then be redirected to the correctional facility where the prisoner will be sent.
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Siarhei Kavalenka, a Conservative Christian Party of the Belarusian Popular Front activist, was sentenced to a 25 month imprisonment for violation of conditions of suspended sentence passed for putting out a white-red-white flag on the town Christmas tree in 2010. Protesting against the sentence, the activist held a hunger strike from December 2011 to early April with a 20-day break in January and February. Belarusian and international human rights organizations have recognized Siarhei Kavalenka as a political prisoner and demand his release.
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, who has recently stopped hunger strike, is currently held in a psychiatric hospital “Navinki”, where he has been sent to for a forced psychiatric examination. The activist's wife speaks about his current condition and about the way he was treated in the Vitsba-3 colony.&redirect_uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2F){kind=link}