When the guards arrive, the prisoners sentenced to death do not know if it is the last time. Suddenly one day they are met by a public prosecutor, who tells them that their application for a pardon from the president has been rejected. That their last hope is shattered.
They trembled either from the cold or from the fear, and their mad eyes radiated such a real horror that it was impossible to look at them.
The words belong to Aleh Alkayeu and comes from a report prepared by the Belarusian human rights group Vjasna on the death penalty and the conditions in Belarusian prisons from 2016.
Alkayeu is the former head of the fearsome SIZO-1 prison, located in Pishchalovsky Castle in the center of Belarus’ capital Minsk. Only one place in Europe still carries out state-authorized executions, and that is in Pishchalovsky Castle, where the method of execution is a bullet.
Now this and other infamous prisons are being filled with political enemies of Europe’s last dictator – Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko.
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Stuck in the courtroom
41-year-old Stepan Latypov was arrested in his own backyard on September 15 last year. Police arrived to paint over a mural by two activists, both of whom were convicted of possession played the song “I want change!” by the iconic Soviet punk band Kino.
Latypov stood in the way, and was apprehended, as thousands of other Belarusians also became in the wake of last year’s forged presidential election.
Earlier this week, the 41-year-old, who risks many years in prison, appeared in court. When his father took the witness stand, Latypov shouted from the cage where the accused is being held in court in Belarus and Russia, among other places.
IN TERRORISM: The political prisoner Stepan Latypov is a trained tree nurse and industrial climber. Photo: Private
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“Father! After the meeting, the police came to me. They promised me that if I did not admit guilt, they would file criminal charges against my family and neighbors. Get ready”.
So led The 41-year-old put a pen to his neck and stabbed himself.
Bloody, Latypov was carried out of the cage and the courtroom and taken to hospital. He was placed in an artificial coma, and survived. He is now in a cell in Pishchalovsky Castle, according to the Belarusian human rights and news group Charter 97.
In the same prison opposition leader Maria Kolesnikova also sit in jail.
Activist stabbed himself during court hearing
«State hijacking»
The eyes of the whole world were again turned on Belarus at the end of May when the country’s authorities forced a Ryanair passenger plane to land in Minsk. The plane was on its way from the Greek capital Athens to the Lithuanian capital Vilnius.
On board the plane was the well-known regime critic Roman Protasevich (26), former editor of the opposition Telegram channel Nexta, who was arrested.
Fellow passengers have stated that Protasevich allegedly said that “the death penalty awaits me here”, when he understood what was about to happen.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called the incident a “state hijacking” and joined the ranks of international leaders who strongly condemned Lukashenko’s actions.
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– The international community must react strongly to the Belarusian regime. Lukashenko lives up to his reputation as Europe’s last dictator, said Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide (H) about the incident.
Protasevich is now branded a terrorist, and is imprisoned in another infamous prison in Minsk – the American prison, as it is popularly called.
The prison is run by the country’s dreaded security service, still called the KGB, and is just a stone ‘s throw from Pishchalovsky Castle.
– This is usually where high-profile prisoners are first sent. Among others, last year’s presidential candidate Viktor Babariko is sitting there now, says Belarus expert Arve Hansen, doctor of East Slavic studies at the University of Tromsø, to Dagbladet.
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«Different forms of torture»
Hansen says that the standard of prisons and custody prisons in Belarus is “very variable”, and that custody prisons in particular lack completely basic things such as showers, beds, soap and a place to sit.
– Unfortunately, inmates – and especially political prisoners – are often subjected to violence and various forms of torture in the Belarusian prison service. It includes physical abuse and sexual violence. Some inmates talk about using loud noises, stressful positions and sleep deprivation for a long time, to make them compliant before questioning. Many have reported overcrowded cells, while important political prisoners are often subjected to complete isolation to break them down, says the Belarus expert.
KGB threat: “Alive or in pieces”
He does not know the conditions in the SIZO-1 prison in Pishchalovsky Castle in detail, but describes the prison as “very old and in poor condition”.
It also seems clear in photos of the prison taken outside. Pictures from the inside are rare and often old.
– Former inmates talk about inadequate ventilation and sewage smell. It is freezing cold in winter and scorching hot in summer. The stories we get from here are also similar to those we have received from Ukraine, with violence, little space and poor sanitation, says Hansen.
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Heard others were beaten
Okrestina is a remand prison outside Minsk, and was frequently used when Belarusian security police last summer and autumn cracked down on the demonstrations after the presidential election.
Here is Protasevich Russian girlfriend, 23-year-old Sofia Sapega, sit in jail.
Dagbladet has previously interviewed several people who were arrested and imprisoned in the Okrestina prison last summer and autumn.
Shocked and powerless
They then told about miserable conditions, overcrowded cells and about violence.
One of the brothers Dagbladet interviewed ended up in a makeshift cell, actually a ventilation garden for the inmates, which was about six meters long and six meters wide, he says.
– Here we talked 125 people, he said to Dagbladet, and added:
– We could clearly hear how others in prison were beaten, and how others asked for mercy. There was a tense atmosphere in the air, because everyone thought that this was where the real torture began.
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