To the Editor charter97.org received a letter from Vasily Kosach, who is serving a sentence in a correctional facility of open type №11 Vitebsk. He writes that the correctional institution can not find him a job and refuses to pay the money for food.

November 5 Vasily Kosach was fired from his job for health reasons in accordance with paragraph 4 of Article 52 of the Criminal Executive Code of Belarus. According to the first paragraph of Article 51, obliged to employ convicts prison authorities. However, in reality the situation is as follows: money for food less, and as there was no work and no.

"The administration can not find my job, because I have serious limitations due to a health condition. Over the past month due to the fact that I was not employed, I spent all my money I was paid after retirement. According to paragraph 4 of Article 48 of the PEC RB, in the absence of the convicted person's own funds, its food is paid for by the state and compensation.

Administration of the institution refuses to comply with its duty to provide me power by the state. Employ me too can not, that I myself could earn and pay for their food. As a result, I kept in inhumane conditions, without food! Appeal to the prosecuting authorities that oversee the implementation of laws in prisons, were fruitless. Self-employment I have no right under the law. It turns out some wildness! "- Outraged Vasily Kosach.

For comment charter97.org appealed to the Human Rights Center "Viasna". Human rights activist Paul Sapelka explained that the victim needs to be done in this situation, to improve their conditions, but noted that under these circumstances there must be mutual initiative.

"I would recommend to contact the Department of Corrections to manage this area, where he is serving. Maybe at another institution of open type have some company or any employer who would take it to work. And provided self-financing condition. The only convicted issued some cash upon arrival, as long as one did not even earn. And so he should identify himself.

This is not a violation, this is a situation where two parties must take the initiative. I understand that he has the restriction on labor functions and to find a job is not so easy. In Minsk, I think he would have found somewhere to sit for some small amount of money, and in Vitebsk, as far as I know, with the work of all bad. Therefore, it is necessary to raise the issue of transfer to another penitentiary institutions in order to find work. If he knows where he can take on the job, he may ask to transfer him somewhere targeted. If you are already in this situation it will not translate, then it would be a violation," - he explained.