Political Prisoner Viktorya Kulsha Diagnosed With Oncological Disease
- 9.01.2024, 9:29
She is constantly tortured in the colony.
Three-time prisoner Viktorya Kulsha spent the New Year in the penal colony without a mattress or bedding, while the girl was diagnosed with cancer, Radio Svaboda reports, citing a source.
Despite the cancer, the girl was returned to the penal colony in the new year. The sources say that she is not given a mattress or bedding. Kulsha has to protect herself from the cold by doing physical exercises.
"Viktorya was kept in a cell-like room and at the end of the year she was put in a punishment cell, but it is not known for what. We haven't heard from her since, so we think she spent the New Year there, in the punishment cell. It is very difficult with her health condition," the source said.
After the New Year, the prisoner did not leave the punishment cell.
The publication reports that Kulsha spent a total of 100 days in the punishment cell and the cell-type facility (CTF) last year.
Viktorya Kulsha was the administrator of the telegram channel Drivers 97%. In November 2020, she and other defendants were arrested and accused of organising protests (parts 1 and 2 of Article 342 of the Criminal Code). On 4 June 2021, the court sentenced her to two and a half years' imprisonment.
However, in Homel colony, Viktorya was constantly reprimanded for certain violations, placed in a punishment cell, deprived of visits, placed in a CTF for two months, and finally a new case was opened under Part 1 of Article 411 of the Criminal Code. At the time of the trial, she had less than six months to serve before her release. But she was found guilty of 'malicious disobedience' to the colony's staff. The court fully agreed with the prosecution and sentenced Viktorya Kulsha to an additional year's imprisonment. The appeal failed.
The woman was then transferred to penal colony 24 in Zarechche. There she was again thrown into the punishment cell and sent to a cell-type facility for six months. According to human rights activists, the guards often insulted and humiliated Viktorya; there was one case when one of them strangled the woman and dragged her around the cell. Kulsha went on hunger strike several times in protest.
As a result, she was again prosecuted for disobedience. This made Viktorya Kulsha the first female political prisoner to be tried twice under this article. At the time of the trial, Viktorya had seven months to go before her release. She was sentenced to another year in a penal colony, and after partial addition the remaining term was 1 year and 5 months. And the woman's total sentence increased from the original 2.5 years to 4.5 years. Viktorya Kulsha's appeal was again unsuccessful.