Zmitser Dashkevich was arrested together with his colleague Eduard Lobau the day before the last presidential elections, on 18 December 2010.In the court yard of the building in Minsk, they allegedly beat up two passers-by. However, at the trial no one could see these people, who said they were unemployed, They hid in another room and gave their testimonies through closed doors.
Dashkevich was sentenced to two years in a minimum-security penitentiary, and Lobau – 4 years in a maximum security penitentiary.
At the end of the two-year term a closed trial was held, and as a result of it, Dashkevich was found guilty of malignant disobedience to lawful demands of the colony administration and sentenced to another year of imprisonment. The last year of his imprisonment he had to serve in the cell-type facility in Hrodna. He was released on 28 August, but preventive supervision was established over him. “That’s why it’s just conditional freedom. I can be thrown in jail again at any moment,” says the activist.
Zmitser Dashkevich received just one official proposal to write a petition for clemency, while being kept in Horki. “The warden invited me to his office and proposed that I wrote the clemency petition, promising that I would be released. However, I refused to do it,” says the activist.
However, he received many unofficial proposals to write clemency petitions. But no one knows if it was the initiative of prison authorities, or the order from above. What concerns the attitude towards him in prison, Mr. Dashkevich stated that the administration of various prisons tried to use prisoners to influence him, but in most cases he received support .
People from all over Belarus came to meet Dashkevich
Before Dashkevich’s release, people began to gather the evening before and waited for his release all night.They were approached by the police several times and warned against picketing. Young people came from all over the country.
The present people were also warned against writing anything on the prison walls before the release of Dashkevich.
After the release, Dashkevich stated that he felt healthy, thanked everybody for the support he felt behind bars and stated his intention to continue his earlier activities.
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