Mr Boss
- 30.01.2012, 9:40
Belarusian political prisoners have seen many prisons and colonies, but the most horrible things happen in the prison ruled by this little man.
In the center of the photo there is a little colonel in a far too large green coat, its sleeves almost reaching his fingers. He is pressing his precious certificate to the belly, showing it proudly to everyone. He doesn’t like being photographed, this is probably the only picture with him; he is not a public figure. But his fame will live long, because Belarusian political prisoners have seen many prisons and colonies, but the most horrible things happen in the prison ruled by this little man.
Aliaksandar Mikalaevich Lamaza, the head of the prison number 4 of Mahiliou.
First Zmitser Dashkevich, then Andrei Sannikov, and now Mikola Statkevich have been transferred to this prison. They still cannot tell us what was going on there. But everyone can see that in the Mahiliou prison they have been exposed to immense pressure.
“It seems like the last months’ nightmare has no beginning, and no end. I look back and don’t understand how I survived all of that, and don’t know how I will survive more… Pray for me…” Zmitser Dashkevich wrote these words after being transferred to the prison in Hlubokae after Mahiliou. The stubborn, unbreakable Zmitser who has been a prisoner before, who has survived several “special correction establishments”, but who has always tried not to torture family and friends with his pain!
Iryna Khalip is convinced that in the Mahiliou prison they were breaking Andrei Sannikov. After months of complete silence, Sannikov said: “My term was over in September. Then tortures begun.” In September Sannikov was transferred to Mahiliou, then to the Babruisk prison, then back to Mahiliou, and finally to the colony Vitsba. Citing her husband Iryna Khalip says that in Mahiliou, after inhumane pressure, Sannikov wrote the appeal for pardon.
And now Mikola Statkevich is kept in Mahiliou. The old horrible scheme is used. Statkevich was placed in a punishment cell instead of a prison unit, and then transferred to a solitary cell. To exclude witnesses, to keep everything a secret, to avoid talks…
The little man in a large coat… He turned out to be the less finical even among his colleagues.
Actually Lamaza demonstrated his professionalism long ago. He was a pioneer of refined pressing of political prisoners. With his help, Artur Finkevich had to “move” to the Mahiliou colony. At that time Lamaza, a lieutenant-colonel and the chief of the Mahiliou special commandant’s office, did his utmost to arrange a stricter confinement regime for Finkevich. “I was simply tormented”, Finkevich said later.
This was the first time in the Belarusian history when a political prisoner got a stricter confinement regime. Even then some of Lamaza’s subordinates were brave enough to tell the truth. For example, in court one of his assistants described Finkevich as a calm guy who did not cause any problems, and admitted that only Finkevich got reprimands for coming just one or two minutes late. Nevertheless, Lamaza had got what he wanted, and Finkevich was sent to prison.
Artur however says that he felt much better in the colony than in the prison where he had been kept previously. And the only reason to that is the ability of little men to do nasty things. So nasty that Lamaza became interesting even for the KGB. In his investigation isolation cell Finkevich was visited by an “authority” who warned him at once that he didn’t work with “the politicals”, and that his interest concerned only the chief of the special commandant’s office. The KGB authority asked Artur about what he had seen or heard. And of course, Artur did not try to hide that lieutenant-colonel Lamaza sent prisoners to suspicious construction sites who belonged to influential people, and that prisoners then discussed how much they get for this work and how much the chief earns.
The KGB comrade found this information interesting and thoroughly noted down every word. Nevertheless, the inspection resulted in a career boost for Lamaza, who is now the chief of the Mahiliou prison.
And he is a diligent servant. And his fame will find him.
Sviatlana Kalinkina, skalinkina.livejournal.com