English

Syarhey Kavalenka applied for pardon under pressure

Syarhey Kavalenka applied for a presidential pardon in late June and did that under pressure from the administration of Correctional Institution No. 19 in Mahilyow, the wife of the 37-year-old opposition activist told reporters on Friday.

"He wrote [the application] on June 24 or 25," said Alena Kavalenka, who had stayed with her husband between July 24 and July 27. "They promised that he would be with his family by July 3. He wrote only one line to the president, 'I ask you to pardon me.'"

According to Mrs. Kavalenka, the pressure on her husband came to a head while he was staying in a punishment cell for another alleged violation of prison rules. "The conditions there were very poor," she said. "The roof leaked, the window was broken. Water leaked in when it was raining. You had to get up five or six times at night to keep warm."

During that period, he was visited in his cell several times a day and told to write to Alyaksandr Lukashenka that he repented of his act and viewed it as an act of hooliganism and not a political statement, Mrs. Kavalenka said.

The head of the prison once visited Syarhey and shamed him for leaving his son to grow up without his father, she said. "He also said that prison officers wouldn't be granted a bonus and wouldn't be able to buy candies for their children if he didn't write the application," Mrs. Kavalenka said. "Then they came and said that no repentance was necessary, and that he should simply write, 'I ask you to pardon me,’ and had no need to write that he repented and admitted his guilt."

“Syarhey wants to be with his family and care for his children,” Mrs. Kavalenka said. According to her, their son was very happy to see his father during their recent meeting, while their little daughter did not recognize him.

It is not clear when Syarhey may be released, considering that he has been charged with six disciplinary offenses, given the status of a persistent violator of prison rules and declared ineligible for amnesty, Mrs. Kavalenka said.

“Syarhey also has many health problems,” she said. "He admitted to me that his hunger strike had caused severe and probably permanent damage to his health. His weight has almost gone back to normal, but there are no [health] examinations there, and much information is hidden from him."

Mrs. Kavalenka noted that the administration had not accepted a parcel of medicines for her husband.

“Other inmates generally treat Syarhey quite well, but the chief of his prison unit is very hostile to him,” she said. “I saw a document indicating that it was him who suggested preventing Syarhey from taking along a parcel that we brought him.”

The woman and other family members may have the next meeting with Mr. Kavalenka in three months.

Syarhey Kavalenka, a member of the Conservative Christian Party, currently 37, was sentenced to a suspended three-year prison sentence in 2010 for putting a white-red-white flag on top of Vitsyebsk's tallest Christmas tree in early January.

On December 19, 2011, Mr. Kavalenka was arrested at home on a charge of violating probation rules and placed in the Vitsyebsk detention center. He was on hunger strike since his arrest and reportedly lost nearly 40 kilograms of weight.

On February 24, he was sentenced to two years and one month in prison.