TALLINN, Estonia (AP) – A Belarusian political prisoner has smuggled out his own personal experiences written on toilet paper, shedding light on the country’s brutal prison system.
Katsialina Novicava, 38, said she was repeatedly beaten by security forces after being detained in June 2023 wearing only a nightshirt. She is one of hundreds of political prisoners in the country of 9.5 million people, ruled by authoritarian dictator Alexander Lukashenko.
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“Everyone in the office beat me. They hit me in the head,” Novicava wrote, describing how she was assaulted during interrogations in several detention centers. Her account was published in Belarusian independent media.
Belarus was rocked by mass protests during Lukashenko’s controversial re-election for a sixth term in August 2020, which opposition parties and Western countries accused of fraud. Since then, Belarusian authorities have detained more than 35,000 people, many of whom were tortured in custody, forced to flee the country, and labeled “extremists” by authorities, according to Viasna, the Belarusian Human Rights Center. It is said that it was pasted.
A Belarusian political prisoner has shed light on the country’s brutal prison system by smuggling out his personal stories written on toilet paper. (Photo by Maksim Konstantinov/SOPA Images/LightRocket, Getty Images)
Novicaba, who participated in anti-government protests, was sentenced to six and a half years in prison in January. She was found guilty of inciting hatred and interfering with the work of an official of the Ministry of Interior.
Novicaba said her health deteriorated after the beating and she was not receiving the treatment she needed.
“I fell from the top bunk of the bed and my head hit the wooden shelf,” Novicava wrote, adding that her injuries were photographed but she was not given medical treatment.
Most political prisoners are kept in solitary confinement, but Novicaba was placed in the same cell as Marina Zolatava, the editor-in-chief of Tutbi, the country’s largest independent online news outlet, who was sentenced to 12 years in prison. He said he was being bullied.
“We hardly receive any letters. We are even prohibited from painting,” Novicava added.
Viasna said Novicava’s messages should be investigated by the United Nations Committee against Torture.
“Mr. Novikava’s letter highlights the devastating conditions of political prisoners in Belarusian prisons,” Viasna’s Pavel Saperka told the Associated Press, adding that Belarusian authorities “have committed systematic bullying, beatings, etc.” “The denial of medical care and the isolation of information amount to political torture,” he added. Prisoners! ”
Leading Belarusian politicians, including Viktar Babaryka, Maria Kolesnikova, Mykola Shtkevich and Maxim Znak, are being held in such conditions and have not been heard from for over a year.
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There are currently 1,385 political prisoners in Belarus, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatsky. Viasna said at least six political prisoners had died in prison.
Human rights activists have frequently documented torture and illegal treatment of prisoners in Belarus, and the country is “fastly becoming a European black hole,” Saperka said.
