Human rights activists became aware of the beating of political prisoner, the founder of the human rights organization "Platform Innovation" Mikhail Zhamchuzhny in Horki penal colony No. 9. On January 24, the guards left the man unattended in the corridor of the sanitation unit, where another convict severely beat him.

The aggressor was wearing black glasses, knitted black gloves and a hat. He grabbed Zhamchuzhny by the throat and hit him several times on the head. After that, the attacker threatened to "dissolve" the political prisoner if he met him again in the colony. Zhamchuzhny already sent a complaint to the regional prosecutor's office.

Human rights defenders are concerned about what is happening in the colony. The President of the Belarusian House of Human Rights, Tatyana Revyako, sent an appeal to the Public Monitoring Commission under the Justice Department of the Mahiloŭ Regional Executive Committee, in which she asked to check colony No. 9. In addition to the incident with the beating, she is also concerned about the attitude of the administration of the colony to the political prisoner:

"Defending his honor and dignity, Mikhail Zhamchuzhny, since August 2017, invariably refuses to refer him to a detachment formed of convicts" with low status. " At present, we know about the 18 penalties taken by Zhamchuzhny in connection with these refusals, which are explained by the administration of the IC No. 9 as a violation of the established order of serving the sentence: 2 times it was sent to a chamber-type room, each time for a period of 1 month, 16 times – for various terms of placement in the punishment cell," – said in a statement Revyako.

According to her, some letters from Mikhail Zhamchuzhny are not allowed to leave the confines of the colony, so she decided to personally contact the STC. The human rights activist asked the supervisory commission to personally meet with the political prisoners, and also to find out how justified are the disciplinary sanctions that are imposed on him.

Ales Svetlicki, mspring.online
Photo: A. Burakow, dw.com