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Ales Byalyatski phones his wife from prison

Human rights defender Ales Byalyatski on Friday evening phoned his wife from Correctional Institution No. 2 in Babruysk, Mahilyow region, where he is serving his prison term.

“That was his first phone call from the prison,” the wife, Natallya Pinchuk, told BelaPAN. “He was speaking through his nose and I asked him about his health. He replied that he was all right, but he had recently had a cold. He said that he was OK overall.”

The conversation lasted around five minutes, she said.

Mr. Byalyatski confirmed that he would file an appeal against a recent court ruling ordering him to pay a late charge of 140.3 million rubels ($17,500) and 7.1 million rubels in litigation costs, said Ms. Pinchuk. “He was cheerful. He keeps his chin up.”
The woman added that Mr. Byalyatski had been assigned a packer job at the prison’s sewing shop.

On November 24, 2011, a judge of the Pershamayski District Court in Minsk sentenced Mr. Byalyatski, the 49-year-old leader of a human rights group called Vyasna (Spring) and vice president of the International Federation for Human Rights, to four and a half years in prison on a charge of large-scale tax evasion.

The charge stemmed from information about Mr. Byalyatski`s bank accounts abroad, which was provided by authorities in Lithuania and Poland. During his trial, Mr. Byalyatski insisted that the money transferred by various foundations to his bank accounts abroad had been intended to finance Vyasna`s activities and therefore could not be viewed as his income.

Mr. Byalyatski`s appeal was rejected by the Minsk City Court on January 24.

On April 18, a judge of the Pershamayski District Court in Minsk ordered the activist to pay the late charge. "Ales has to pay a late charge four months after his sentencing because he allegedly failed to pay his taxes on time," Ms. Pinchuk then commented. "However, the late charge was not even mentioned during the hearing of his appeal in late January."