Water prohibited to be brought to prison to human rights activist on hunger strike
- 21.07.2008, 9:02
As Valery Shchukin has told to the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, the mother of Pavel Lyavinau, a human rights activist, was not allowed to bring water to her detained son.
Meanwhile, the human rights activist who had been sent to prison right after an intensive care continues his hunger strike for the 5th day. As noted by Valery Shchukin, who had been imprisoned many times, “water from the tap in the remand prison is dangerous for health, and to drink it during a hunger strike is almost tantamount to death. It’s unlikely that the sanitary-epidemiological inspection service has ever analyzed the water, which is given by the director of the remand prison, Shypulya to the persons entrusted to him”.
As informed by the Charter’97 press-center, on July 16 Lyavinau was taken to the police department of Pershamajski district of Vitsebsk rights from a hospital. The court decree on his 10-day arrest was issued on May 26. Judge of Pershamajski district of Vistebsk Valyantsina Kismyaroshkina has found the human rights activist guilty of violations relation articles 17.1 and 23.4 of the Administrative Code (petty hooliganism and insubordination to policemen). The incident took place on March 27, 2008. On that day P. Lyavinau visited Vitsebsk journalist Vadzim Barshcheuski at his place, where KGB men were carrying out a search. Lyavinau was to provide legal aid to him. Law-enforcers detained Lyavinau, charging him with insubordination to policemen and use of foul language. For about two months the BCH representative was trying to challenge that court decision and prove his innocence.
According to the BHC reports, P. Lyavinau was taken to serve the arrest right from an intensive care ward of the 2nd hospital of Vitsebsk, where he was placed earlier. On July 15 the human rights activist visited Prosecutor of Vitsebsk region Henadz Dysko with the aim to reverse the ruling of the court. The prosecutor promised to examine the situation, however when Lyavinau was leaving the building of the prosecutor’s office, he was detained and taken to a police department. The human rights activist was taken bad and he was transported to Hospital No.2 in an ambulance. According to reports of the BHC, after a talk over the phone, a cardiologist on duty refused to hospitalize Lyavinau. Leaving the hospital, Lyavinau fell unconscious and regained consciousness in a few hours in an intensive care only.
A brother of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee’s representative Paval Lyavinau has informed that bodily harm had been inflicted to the human rights activist during detention.