“The other day I talked to A Country to Live in Foundation activists about our political prisoners, the inhumane conditions created on purpose for them in prisons and colonies, and, of course, what we can all do for them even as our opportunities to help them are limited.
The activists told me the stories of Siarhei Ramanau and Mikita Yemialyianau. Both of them are now in Vawkavysk penal colony No. 11 and both face daily torture. Not only do young decent people have to spend their invaluable time in a maximum-security colony as punishment for mere dissent, for being honest; not only are they constantly deprived of such basic and valuable things as visits from relatives, care packages, and letters – but the facility administration creates new humiliations and punishments for the guys every day to make the conditions even more torturous than they already are. Sergei and Nikita are constantly being transferred to solitary confinement and punishment cells, and their complaints and claims of torture are not even considered. I don't know if the administration has even bothered to read the complaints, nor do I know if prison guards are paid for their “efforts” to torture people. But I do know that none of us can allow ourselves to adjust to this totalitarian injustice. We must continue to speak out about everyone who is illegally imprisoned, cry out about every case of ill-treatment, and support our political prisoners, their relatives, and each other. In whatever way each of us can do it.
A Country to Live in Foundation, Politzek.me, Dissidentby.com, and the Viasna Human Rights Center work continuously to collect information about our political prisoners, tell society about torture and other ill-treatment in prisons, collect signatures for important appeals and petitions, announce fundraisers for families of political prisoners, and share information on how each of us can help or support someone worse off than us”.
