Kasinerau: Dzmitry Paliyenka Holds On Vigorously, Asks To Send Him Books

The political prisoner has health issues.

Activist, former political prisoner Viachaslau Kasinerau, who corresponds with political prisoner Dzmitry Paliyenka, told the website palitviazni.info what the latter wrote about in his two last letters.

- He informed he had health issues but there have been no further details so far, - Viachaslau says. - A lawyer is supposed to visit Dzmitry this week.

- I think we will have more information after the visit of the lawyer, what Dzmitry Paliyenka is suffering from and what help we can render to him, - the activist adds. - It is also known that Dzmitry will have a meeting with his father soon, according to the decision of the prison administration. Moreover, the postcards which were sent not via the registered mail, didn't reach him. So, we send letters only via the registered mail, there's no hope for ordinary mail. Besides, when Dzmitry writes to the outside, the postcards also come with a delay. Apparently, they are censored.

According to Kasinerau, Dzmitry Paliyenka is holding on vigorously, and asks to send him as many books as possible as he reads a lot in the penal colony.

Dzmitry Paliyenka is a social activist from Minsk. The reason for the criminal prosecution was his participation in the peaceful meeting "Critical Mass", which took place on April 29, 2016 in Minsk and was interrupted by the police.

On October 12, 2016, the court of the Central District of Minsk sentenced Paliyenka to two years in prison with the suspension of execution of the sentence for two years.

On April 7, 2017, the court of the Zavodski district of Minsk considered the claim of the body monitoring the conduct of the convict (most likely, the Zavodski District Internal Affairs Directorate), and the suspension of the execution of the sentence was canceled. In this regard, without the right to appeal, the activist was sent to a penal colony to serve a sentence of imprisonment for 1.5 years (taking into account the time spent in pre-trial detention in 2016).

You can write letters of support to Dzmitry Paliyenka to the following address: 213800 penal colony #2, detachment #9, Sikorski Street 1, Babruisk, Mahiliou region, Belarus.