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Mikalay Awtukhovich expected to complete his prison term on April 8

Mikalay Awtukhovich, a businessman widely viewed as a political prisoner, is scheduled to be released on April 8 upon completion of his prison term.

A court hearing will be held next week to decide on the terms of “preventive police supervision” for the 51-year-old Awtukhovich, reported a human rights organization called Vyasna (Spring).

In letters to his friends, Mr. Awtukhovich expressed fear that his prison term might be extended as a result of the trial or severe restrictions might be imposed on his freedom after his release, human rights defender Aleh Volchak told BelaPAN. That is why it is very important for Mr. Awtukhovich to avoid any reprimands from the prison administration, he said.

Mr. Awtukhovich intends to take “appropriate steps” in the event of pressure or provocations, Mr. Volchak warned. “In the past, he cut his wrists and his stomach in protest against provocations and reprimands,” he said.

According to him, Mr. Awtukhovich has severe dental problems and may lose his teeth without urgent medical assistance.

On May 6, 2010, the Supreme Court of Belarus sentenced Mikalay Awtukhovich, a resident of Vawkavysk, to five years and two months in a medium-security correctional institution under the Criminal Code's Article 295, which penalizes the illegal handling of arms, ammunition and explosives, because of five hunting rifle cartridges found at his home.

Mr. Awtukhovich, who had already spent more than a year in jail, was cleared of charges of "preparations for an act of terrorism" against Uladzimir Sawchanka, then head of the Hrodna Regional Executive Committee, and Deputy Tax Minister Vasil Kamyanko, and of involvement in an arson attack on the house of a former chief of the Vawkavysk district police.

In December 2011, Mr. Awtukhovich was placed in a "cell-type room" in punishment for an unspecified offense. Two days later, he reportedly cut his wrists after being transferred to a room holding people at the very bottom of prison hierarchy who are shunned by fellow inmates.

In a trial held in Correctional Institution No. 5 in Ivatsevichy, Brest region, on January 17, 2012, a judge of the Ivatsevichy District Court found Mr. Awtukhovich guilty of persistent violations of prison rules and ordered his transfer to a cell-type prison.

The ruling meant that the man would have to serve the remaining 27 months of his sentence in a prison where there is higher security and more restrictions.

In September 2013, Mr. Awtukhovich reportedly cut his stomach with a razor in protest against a new reprimand by the prison administration, but has made a full recovery since then.

Opposition activists and human rights defenders believe that the charges against Mr. Awtukhovich were trumped up in revenge for his criticism and corruption accusations. In December 2010, US-based Freedom House entered his name in its list of the world's most important imprisoned dissidents.