We Appeal to Help Us to Liberate From Jail the Prisoner of Conscience Mr. Siarhei Kavalenka

(Appeal to the members of the European Parliament)

December 19, 2011 the police has arrested Mr. Siarhei Kavalenka, member of the Conservative Christian Party – Belarusian Popular Front, in his flat in Vitebsk. The same day he has been charged of the violation of the regime of conditional punishment and jailed. The point is that in 2010 Mr. S. Kavalenka has been sentenced to the conditional restriction of liberty for three years. He has been sentenced because January 7, 2010 he erected the national Belarusian White-Red-White Flag on the 40 meters high Christmas Tree in center of Vitebsk. He has been savagely beaten by the police officers when they arrested him. The documents of the medical examination witness the several injuries caused by the police violence. But Mr. S. Kavalenka didn’t resist the police, he only shouted “Long Live Belarus!”

After the process in 2010 the police entered regularly the flat where lives Mr. S. Kavalenka’s family in order to control the regime of the conditional punishment (controlling if he is home). As a rule the police entered the flat at night and several times the same night. Mr. S. Kavalenka’s small children where frightened by these inspections and couldn’t sleep.

Mr. S. Kavalenka was a good citizen and head of family. He took care of his children, worked and provided his family of 5 persons with everything it needed (two small children, his mother, and his wife which is in the maternity leave). In spite of that Mr. S. Kavalenka remained in jail since December 19, 2011. The authorities have opened a new process against him.
February 24, 2012 Mr. Siarhei Kavalenka has been sentenced by the Pershamayski court of justice in Vitebsk to two years and one month of the confinement in jail in accordance with the art. 415 of the Criminal Codex of Belarus. The sentence was based on the false charges against him: as if he violated regularly the regime of the conditional restriction of liberty. The prosecution has presented one of the Mr. S. Kavalenka’s “violations” – he came home one minute later (he should be home at 9.00 p.m. but the police officers have sopped him on the street).
In accordance with the Decree №18 adopted by the Supreme Court of Belarus December 20, 2007 the Art. 415 of the Criminal Codex of Belarus could be applied against the persons which have violated the regime of the conditional restriction of liberty deliberately and regularly. During the judicial process all the episodes of the violations of the regime by Mr. S. Kavalenka where not confirmed as his deliberate conduct.

He has been just punished for the unpunctual registration in the police inspection. At the same time his conduct didn’t cause and couldn’t cause any damage to the society. We mean that the sentence from February 24, 2012 to Mr. S. Kavalenka is illegal and not adequate to his action.
Since December 19, 2011 Mr. Siarhei Kavalenka expressed several times his political ideas and protested against the violation of his rights. December 19, 2011 he has gone on official hunger-strike protesting against the illegality and violations of his rights.

After 30 days of hunger-strike the prison’s doctors began to feed him using the violence. Doing this the doctors beat him and threat to break him the teeth. Mr. S. Kavalenka was forced to interrupt the hunger-strike. But during the judicial process in February 2012 has been ascertained that the prison’s doctors didn’t use the medical methods for the rehabilitation of the organism after the hunger-strike in order to avoid any harm to Mr. S. Kavalenka. The doctors of the medical center of the prison in Vitebsk proposed him the big portions of the ordinary meal. This method could cause the serious harm to his health or even kill him. These actions of the prison’s administration are qualified as the tortures.

Our Party has appealed the Pershamayski regional Investigatory Committee in Vitebsk proposing to change the confinement of Mr. S. Kavalenka to some other, milder measure of punishment. Our Party has proposed to liberate Mr. S. Kavalenka with the warrant of the Party stressing that it is necessary to secure the health and life of the courageous patriot. We have stressed as well that in accordance with the articles 108 and 124 of the Criminal Proceeding Codex of Belarus Mr. S. Kavalenka has right on these judicial proceedings because he registered himself regularly in the police inspection, lives with his family and works. But the Investigatory Committee didn’t satisfy our appeal.

Our Party has appealed as well the public prosecutor’s Pershamayski regional office in Vitebsk to change the confinement of Mr. S. Kavalenka to some other, milder measure of punishment. Our Party has proposed to liberate Mr. S. Kavalenka with the warrant of the Party. But the public prosecutor’s office didn’t analyze the cause and did direct it to the court of justice. Our Party demanded the authorities to use the methods of the prosecutor’s intervention in order to save Mr. S. Kavalenka’s life – to transfer him from the prison to the civil hospital and to cancel the illegal sentence made to him. Our Party demanded to use the methods of the procurator’s intervention as regards the actions of the doctors in the prison in Vitebsk qualified as the tortures.

Protesting against the violations of his rights and the lawlessness Mr. Siarhei Kavalenka has restarted the hunger-strike on February 8, 2012. He has finished it on April 12, 2012 after his family, his Party colleagues and representatives of the Belarusian and international societies had appealed him to finish the hunger-strike. Now he is in jail. He doesn’t receive the necessary medicines to restore his damaged health. The administration of the prison is forcing him to do the physical job with other prisoners and punishing him regularly for his “violences of the regime” based on the false charges. The Mr. S. Kavalenka’s health is causing our misgivings. His life is in danger.

2010 and 2012 the court of justice of the regime has sentenced Mr. S. Kavalenka two times cruelly and illegally because he had erected the national Belarusian White-Red-White flag on the Christmas Tree. The Belarusian patriot is the victim of the political repressions carried on by the anti-democratic regime. This regime is suppressing the Belarusian language and culture, persecuting the citizens for the respect to the national Belarusian symbols.

We appeal the members of the European Parliament to express the solidarity with the prisoner of conscience Mr. Siarhei Kavalenka. We appeal you to mention this human tragedy during the sessions of the European Parliament and to claim to liberate Mr. S. Kavalenka from jail. We beg you as well to help to Mr. S. Kavalenka’s family through the humanitarian organizations. The situation of his wife, two children (a boy 7 years old and a girl 11 months old) and his mother (a pensioner) is very hard after their bred-winner had been arrested.

July 5, 2012.
The leadership of the Conservative Christian Party — BPF

The vice-chairmen
Yuri Belenki
Siarhei Papkou

24/7/2012 › English