On 27 July Alena Kavalenka, the wife of political prisoner Siarhei Kavalenka, and their son Valiantsin have returned from Mahiliou colony after a three-day meeting with their husband and father. Alena informed that her husband filed a petition for clemency to president Aliaksandr Lukashenka containing only one line: “I beg your pardon”.

Petition was written under pressure
According to Alena Kavalenka, her husband wrote the petition for clemency under pressure from the colony’s administration. The pressure began when he was put in a punishment cell where the conditions were extremely harsh.

“He was kept in a cell where it was so cold that he had to exercise all the time in order to keep warm. Several times a day representatives of the administration would come to him and demand the petition and repentance”, says Alena Kavalenka.

Alena Kavalenka stresses that the pressure on Siarhei was not lifted for a minute: “Of course, they used children as an instument of pressure. Siarhei is very worried about our son. And this is his sore spot which they took advantage of”.

In addition, the colony’s officials reproached Kavalenka for the fact that they were under pressure themselves because of him: the prison employees were deprived of bonuses to their salaries until they made him write the petition. As a result, Siarhei filed the petition for clemency on 25 June.

Alena Kavalenka continues: “The prison administration assured us that he would be released before 3 July and would go home to his wife and children. A month passed, but nothing changed. Of course, it is hard to trust those people, and one should not trust them, because nothing depends on them. They are required to do this. One can only feel sorry for them, because they are weak people who depend on the system”.

Alena Kavalenka: “They cannot release him as a hero. A person must be disgraced”
Alena Kavalenka supports her husband’s decision to file a petition for clemency:

“May God grant this helped him to become free. His family, children, and society need him at large. It is clear that they cannot release him as a hero. A person must be disgraced. To make it look as if they have broken him. Although they have not. Siarhei said it was very hard for him. Now he understands that family is what matters most. Time has passed. Our little daughter did not recognize him. And it is very difficult for our son”.

According to Alena Kavalenka, her husband has serious health problems with the liver and spleen. The colony administration did not allow to give him the medications which she brought for him. She was also not allowed to give thirty kilograms of products that she brought – only five kilos of fruits and vegetables. All this was explained by the fact that he was a malicious violator.

Aliaksandr Kavalenka, Siarhei’s father, informed that his son got the status of malicious violator for staying in bed at the time when was not allowed, and for refusal to clean the toilet. The reason why he refused to do it was that cleaning toilets was considered demeaning work among prisoners .

According to Aliaksandr, the political prisoner has no hope to be released soon, as the prison’s administration should authorize this. “Siarhei does not expect it as long as he has the status of a malicious violator now”, said Aliaksandr Kavalenka.

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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. As a protest against the sentence, the activist held a hunger strike from December 2011 to early April with a break for 20 days in January and February. Belarusian and international human rights organizations consider Siarhei Kavalenka a political prisoner and demand his release.

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