Александр Комленок. Источник фото: Dissidentby
Human rights defenders report a new form of pressure on political prisoners held in Belarusian correctional facilities. According to the Dissidentby initiative, Colony No. 22 previously had a branch of the Ivatsevichy vocational college, where inmates could obtain vocational education, including as welders or plasterers. However, this option has recently become unavailable to political prisoners, the outlet reports.
Aliaksandr Kamlionak, who was convicted for “insulting” a representative of the authorities, wrote a complaint to the Ministry of Education describing the ban on studying. The letter was reportedly passed to the outside through indirect means, as the prison administration does not allow any complaints to be sent from inside, the report says. The complaint was then forwarded to the Ministry of Education. This prompted a harsh reaction, human rights defenders say.
Aliaksandr was summoned for questioning and demanded to explain how he managed to send the complaint. He replied that he had simply sent an ordinary letter. After that, he was placed in a punishment cell. There, in protest, Aliaksandr declared a hunger strike and did not eat for 11 days. He was then transferred to the Navapolatsk colony (IK-1), where he was immediately sent to a punishment cell again. Since then, he has not been released from it.
Aliaksandr Kamlionak was detained in February 2024 when he returned to Belarus from work. Previously, he had worked at a locomotive depot, but after 2020 he was either dismissed or resigned. He then worked as a long-haul truck driver in Western countries and was detained upon returning home from a trip. He was charged with “insulting” a representative of the authorities and sentenced to three years in prison.
The Verkhnedvinsk District Court also designated Aliaksandr’s page on Odnoklassniki as “extremist.”