Human rights activists strongly condemn the conditions for women in Belarusian prisons. Political prisoners are also kept there
Punitive prison number 4 in Gomel, Belarus, is designed for approximately 1,700 female inmates. However, as a result of the massive suppression of protests against the presidential elections rigged by Aleksandar Lukashenko, in 2020 and 2021, according to unconfirmed information, there are almost twice as many women in prison. One of them is Maria Kolesnikova, who in 2020 became one of the main figures of the opposition movement. In 2021, Kolesnikova was sentenced to eleven years in prison for, among other things, calling for actions that “endanger national security” and “conspiracy to seize power.” The International Committee to Investigate Torture in Belarus has documented the abuse and suffering experienced by female prisoners of “Penal Colony No. 4”. The committee includes eleven Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian organizations, as well as the World Organization Against Torture.
ABUSE OF POLITICAL PRISONERS
For their investigation, human rights activists conducted 20 interviews with political prisoners who were in Gomel from May 2021 to February 2024. Regardless of the women who are still in prison, all personal data has been removed from the application and the information is anonymous. The authors describe admission to this prison, including quarantine and departmental segregation, as well as the working conditions and punishment of political prisoners. Prison guards in leadership positions organize the abuse of political prisoners, who are usually housed with murderers, says the co-founder of the International Committee to Investigate Torture in Belarus, Sergey Ustinov, on the occasion of the report’s release. Moreover, they incite prisoners to work against each other and encourage espionage. This particularly affects known political prisoners who are held in wards where everyone controls each other. The administration immediately learns about violations of prison rules that have been deliberately provoked. “This is the most cruel department, it’s hell,” said a political prisoner about her stay in this penal colony.
ISOLATION IN THE CAGE
According to the report, known political prisoners are sometimes deliberately isolated in certain cells. It goes on to say: “One of the most terrible punishments is the cage located there, at the checkpoint between the residential and business areas. Women are put in this cage if they refuse to obey the orders of the officials or if they have had violent fights with the inmates others. They are forced to spend up to eight hours”. For “misdemeanors” the guards sometimes threw two buckets of water on the floor in the corridor, which the convicts had to wipe as soon as possible with a cloth, it is said further. “They are forced to kneel, accompanied by mostly insulting comments,” the report states.
LACK OF HYGIENE
The authors of the report describe the hygienic conditions as shocking. Women detainees were only allowed to shower for 15 minutes once a week. They themselves had to take care of the hygiene products. Once a month they receive a pack of sanitary napkins and a roll of toilet paper. But it may happen that such things are not found in the prison store. It is theoretically allowed to be supplied by family members, but women prisoners were only allowed to receive a package every six months. “Any act of mutual solidarity is considered a violation, even if one woman gives another a sanitary napkin or some tea. Even this can be punished,” said Sergej Ustinov. The report also describes the working conditions in the textile factory. Clothes are produced there for the Belarusian security forces, for employees of investigative bodies, civil defense and underground railways, but also for the army and other prisons. Although women there have a six-day work week, they often have to work on Sundays as well. “It’s very dusty, you can barely breathe. People with allergies and asthma suffer a lot,” says a former political prisoner. The work hardly pays at all. One woman said that in the first month she received only 44 kopecks (about 12 cents/euro), and later she received two to three rubles (about 57 to 85/euro cents) a month.
In addition to working in the factory, women also have to perform other tasks such as distributing vegetables or cleaning the grounds and equipment. There are also numerous reports of ill-treatment and insults as well as forced labor.
INHUMAN BEHAVIOUR
Not even a medical certificate can exclude women from work, the activists write and point to cases of non-provision of help, such as the case of Maria Kolesnikova. In November 2022, she complained of abdominal pain and blood pressure problems. Even when she lost consciousness, Kolesnikova was not helped. According to her sister, she was only taken to the hospital when her condition was critical. Kolesnikova later revealed that doctors saved her at the last moment. Visits were allowed with long delays. In an interview with the BBC, Lukashenko said he would consider pardoning Kolesnikova if she asked for amnesty. Political prisoners who refuse to apply for amnesty are under increasing pressure. Human rights activists testify about women who have been convicted of “politics” and as punishment are not allowed to attend church services or use the gym. Since the beginning of Russia’s war against Ukraine, they are only allowed to contact their closest relatives. (DW)
