Ales Bialiatski phoned home on the evening of April 27, 2012 and talked to his wife Natallya Pinchuk.
Natallya says she was happy to hear her husband all the more it was his first call from prison. Ales promised to write in a letter when he would be able to phone again. Natallya worries about Ales's health, Radio Svaboda reports.
“I heard he was speaking through his nose and asked about his health. He said he felt normal, he almost recovered from a cold and he was fine. He was in normal mood, the voice sounded vigorous, but as I understood it was because he had a long queue behind him. He said we needed to end the conversation. I tried to resent, but he said there was a long queue and everybody wanted to use their five minutes to phone,” the wife of the political prisoner said.
Ales confirmed he would appeal against a new claim of taxation office against him. The taxation office wants the human rights activist to pay 140 million rubles of fine for late paying fines and taxes. Bialiatski's relatives say the sum under the claim was indexed and paid in full.
In one of his first letters from a working brigade of the Babruisk colony the human rights defender describes new circumstances, to which he is trying to adapt. He writes as usual, with subtle self-irony and the ability to note funny situations and characters in any life circumstances. In his letter of 2 April Ales Bialiatski writes that he was transferred to the 14-th brigade of Babruisk penal colony #2 almost two weeks ago.
"The situation here is different from the quarantine, too. This is a working brigade. Correspondingly, the regime is adapted to the 1st or the 2nd shift. Last week there was the 1st shift, which means that we were awoken at 5.30 a.m. and had breakfast at 6.10 a.m. Then there was inspection, and at 8.00 we were already at work. There is a sawing workshop there, that's where I work. At first I was appointed an apprentice to a packager. During the two days of my study I managed to learn how to package mittens. Only the packaging of working overalls was left for learning, when suddenly there came another order – to transfer me to a sewing machine. There is no difference for me – packaging or a sewing machine. The only thing is that I don't see the eye of the needle that well now... I started doing it for the first time in my life: speeded and started blazing away as a blind machine-gunner. I was sawing without seeing whether I was doing it right. On Saturday I was already sawing some working caps. I hope their owners won't curse me too much :)".
Ales has little leisure time, during which he writes letters and reads. For instance, he reads classical novels on weekends and Marina Tsvetayeva (whom he calls a very "literary poetess") – a little before going to bed. However, poetry borders on prose of life:
"Tomorrow I will have my first shopping here. According to the new measures [the Criminal-Executive Code, which regulates the prisoners' rights, there is an opportunity to "spend 5 basic units from a personal account on buying foodstuffs and essentials"], the basic unit became 100,000 rubles, and prisoners may be the only people who are glad about it..." Ironically proceeding from "trifle habitual problems" to the "protracted spring-come", Ales looks in the window: "Dry snow is falling outdoors and the wind is driving white serpentines on black asphalt. During the quarantine we walked under the spring sun everyday. However, now there is either no sun or it shows seldom again."
With hopes for the better, Ales Bialiatski passes greetings to all his friends and acquaintances. He says: "See you".
The wife of the human rights activist had a meeting with him in a penitentiary in Babruisk today.
Natallya Pinchuk and Ales Bialiatski's sister Olga visited the prison to pass Ales a 30-kg parcel. Natallya told Radio Svaboda about the meeting.
How does Ales Bialiatski look? What did he say at the meeting?
Ales looks not bad. At least as he looked after the trial and during my previous visits. I asked him about his health. He says he feels normal. Another case is that he is under close control from the prison authorities.
His moral state is good. As for information about his life, it is under a ban.
Did he say anything about confinement conditions?
No, he didn't. He gave me to understand he was always under close surveillance.
Ales Bialiatski has been in a correctional facility in Babruisk since February.
The head of the Human Rights Centre "Viasna" Ales Bialiatski has sent his first letter after a two week's silence.
The human rights activist was transferred from a quarantine unit to barrack No. 14.
“Belorusski Partizan” learned this from the wife of the political prisoner Natallya Pinchuk.
“I've received a letter from Ales today. It is dated March 22, 2012. He writes he was enrolled in the sewing brigade, but it's clear he will not sew there. He does not know what he will do there,” Natallya Pinchuk said.
The head of the Human Rights Center Viasna has been behind bars for eight months already. His relatives, colleagues, acquaintances, and even people whom he does not know have been supporting him with letters and postcards. This human rights defender and political prisoner received almost 500 greeting cards for New Years and Christmas alone! “I don’t know who people outside prison think I am,” joked Ales in correspondence with his relatives.
With the consent of the human rights defender Tatyana Revyako, “Solidarity” is publishing several of Bialiatski’s letters to her.
Reading these feels like reading letters from someone at a resort, not in prison. Bialiatski’s family is taking care of him. He writes that he is catching up on sleep and that he is reading Blok and Bobkov. Ales does not complain about his health and asks that no one pity him: “I myself could feel pity for anyone…”
23 October 2011 (a little over a week before the start of the trial)
Hello, dear Tatyana! Everything is fine with me. I continue to prepare little by little for the trial. It’s interesting that the first time I was put on trial, for organizing Dziady (an annual procession in memory of the victims of Stalinist repressions in Belarus. It is held on the day of remembrance – ed. note), it was at the Pervomaiski District Court in October 1988. I was fined 200 rubles under an administrative protocol. Now it seems clear that 23 years later I will not get off so easily.
I am prepared for the penal colony or the corrective labour. Whatever they hand down will be mine. I also feel like I’m on a business trip, but this is far from the truth. The most important thing is that my health holds up. It has been fine so far. My conscience is clear, so I am sleeping well and catching up on my sleep. My general feeling is that I have leapt out of car where I was watching life through the window and that I am now walking along the road of life. Slowly, but observing and appreciating. As Igor Bobkov, whom I just read in “Dzeiaslov”, wrote, a person starts to feel like a person only if he comes out of the world a little. These trips have made me so tired recently that I still have not been able to withdraw. It appears that the trial will be open. We’ll see what it will be-a trial or a circus. It is like I am behind glass here. All of life’s storms are passing me by. But, as Korotkevich wrote, all of Belarus is a large cage. So I really do feel your presence somewhere near me. Please send my best to all our friends. Until we meet again. Ales.
16 November 2011 (during the trial)
Hello, Tatyana! I was happy to see you and the others, but you and Petrovich looked at me with such pity. And in vain. I’m fine. And I have not become better. I am the same as I was. So there is no reason to feel sorry for me. I myself could feel pity for anyone…I’ve fallen a little behind with my regular activities before the trial started. Preparations took up all my time. I didn’t want to overexert myself too much. They will determine my punishment by the end of the month. You don’t have to worry about me. I am much more worried for those who are on the other side of the wall. And I am actually in the exact place where a human rights defender should be in such a rotten situation. Please send my best to all my friends. Until we meet again. With love, Ales.
28 November 2011 (several days after the sentence was handed down)
Hello, Tatyana!
I slept for two days after the trial because I have been very tense this entire month and I was kept in suspense until the very last day. I felt your support this entire time, literally every day and every hour. Clearly, the trial was over the top so the sentence had to be as well. It was gratifying to see you holding my portrait when the sentence was being read. You won’t believe it, but nothing stirred in my soul when I heard the length of the sentence. I did not feel despair or disappointment…. And now my mood is calm and businesslike. I’m going to start studying English soon.
My sentence was handed down on Friday, which was especially fast. People here can wait weeks and months. This means that they don’t plan to marinate me here for long. It seems likely that they will review the appeal in cassation just as quickly and send me to the penal colony.
Natalya came for a meeting today and I ordered everything I need, so, to sum up, thank you all very much for the support. I think these months have been like stunt flying for us all. Finally everyone in Belarus has learned what Viasna is. I am very satisfied. Like an elephant. Now I am calm, which is what I wish for you all. The time for emotions is gradually passing. So we will live and work further. Please say hello to everyone and send them my respects. It seems that the worst is now behind us. There’s no need to cry or worry. I am trying to joke more and think less about unpleasant things. The most important thing is that we are alive. We will deal with the rest. Until we meet again!
6 February 2012
Hello, dear Tatyana!
Thanks for the letter you wrote on old museum letterhead (“I wrote Ales on letterhead with a “Pogonya”* on it that was 20 years old,” explains Tatyana Revyako. “I asked the dear censor to let it through. Thanks to him for that.). That really is a great reminder of days gone by! At that time we could do what we wanted without anyone bothering us…. But the fact that you didn’t write about any of your memories from social and cultural life or from current events at the time indicates that you don’t love yourself. Consider that which has not been recorded on paper to have never existed. That is the conclusion I have arrived at in analyzing the course of life. I hope that at least you wrote the Vesnovskoye essay….My bags are packed and already standing under my bunk, but no one seems to be hurrying anywhere. The judicial decision has not arrived yet. So I will be here for a few more days, but’s it’s OK with me because it’s so cold outside that I can’t even think about a prison transfer. Nevertheless, I will be leaving in several days, to where God only knows. I read about Irina’s press conference (this refers to a press conference held by Irina Khalip on the situation with her husband Andrei Sannikov, who was in Bobruisk Penal Colony, where Ales is now – ed. note). Honestly, I don’t really want to go there. But again, whatever will be will be… My health is fine right now. I did catch cold because there is no fresh air. It dragged on for a while, but I’m fine now. I try not to think about it because you never know which direction catastrophe will come from. I’m not 30 anymore, you know. The good thing is that I have tons of medicine for any event. I do pushups and squats; I’m trying to move around a little. It’s just too bad that there’s nowhere to go jogging…. Take care of yourself, be vigilant wherever you are and in whatever company you find yourself. You know what the times are like now. There’s no point in writing to me here again. First you should send a postcard to the new place to see how that goes. Hi to everyone. In friendship, Ales.
*Pogonya – the emblem of Belarus in the early 1990s – ed. note.
The world knows Ales Bialiatski as a social activist, but he is probably known as a writer only in his own country. He is currently working on a history of the dissident movement in Belarus.
While the human rights activities of Ales Bialiatski are at the center of society’s attention, his creative work has remained behind the scenes. But, as his fellow human rights defender Tatyana Revyako tells Naviny.by, his literary activities are an important part of his life. She hopes that he will not abandon his creative work in prison and that he will write a history of the Belarusian human rights movement.
The Russian human rights defender Ludmila Alekseeva has a book called “The History of Dissidence in the USSR.” It tells about national movements in different Soviet republics, but not about dissidents in Belarus. “It is important to fill this gap so that readers don’t think that nothing was going on in Belarus while the rest of the former Soviet Union was fighting for human rights and for freedom,” said Ms. Revyako. “Ales is working in this area.”
Before his arrest, Ales gave Ms. Revyako the first 35 pages of this history, which are mostly dedicated to the background of the Belarusian human rights movement.
“Ales says that now many layers of his memories have been freed. This is probably to compensate for the lack of outside information,” noted Ms. Revyako, who corresponds with Ales.
The author wrote a literary column in the newspaper Litaratura i mastatstva for many years. He had plans to publish a collection of his work to celebrate his 50th birthday on September 25. Now his colleagues have decided to give him this gift: “Ales is in prison, but work goes on – he will get his collection.”
Ales is currently in quarantine and still does not know that he won the Norwegian Freedom of Expression award. “We will let him know and congratulate him within the next few days,” says Ms. Revyako.
The Slovak Prime Minister Iveta Radicova recently nominated Ales Bialiatski for the Nobel Peace Prize. “If he wins the Nobel Prize, this will change the moral climate in the country,” notes Ms. Revyako. In this way, all political prisoners and fighters for democratic values will receive international recognition. “I truly hope that then more regular citizens who are not interested in political prisoners or in what is going on will learn about the real situation and about people who have devoted many years to upholding democratic positions,” said Ms. Revyako.
On February 28, 2012, Ales Bialiatski was transferred to Babruisk Penal Colony No. 2, where, under a court decision, he must spend the next four years, minus the seven months he has already spent in prison.
What is Penal Colony No. 2 like and what are the conditions for inmates?
Babruisk Colony is a closed correctional institution. Inmates are held in barrack-like areas and wear regulation clothing.
Once a year, inmates are allowed to receive one package containing shoes, clothing, and other articles that an inmate may possess, with the exception of food and tobacco products.
Correspondence may be censored and packages delivered by mail or by hand may be inspected.
Inmates are allowed short visits of up to four hours. Meetings with relatives take place in the presence of prison officials and at the discretion of the prison administration. Inmates also have the chance for longer meetings with close relatives (up to three days) and have the right to stay with these relatives in specially appointed accommodations on the grounds of the correctional institution.
Every inmate is required to work a job at a location determined by the prison administration.
Under the verdict issued November 24, 2011, Ales Bialiatski was sentenced to serve in a medium security prison.
This type of prison has the following restrictive regulations:
- three short visits and two long visits a year;
- three packages delivered by mail or by hand and two small packages or two small parcels a year;
- the right to spend money from personal accounts in the amount of five base units (175,000 Br/17 euros, after April 1, 2012 - 500,000 Br/ 46 euros) once a month to purchase food products and other essentials.
Ales Bialiatski has finally been convoyed to Babruisk penal colony No. 2, after he left Zhodzina prison to spend eleven days in a detention center in Minsk, says the human rights defender's wife, quoting the penal facility's administration.
Ales Bialiatski was expected to be convoyed to Babruisk back on 17 February. However, he was transferred to Minsk, instead, and had to wait for his transfer in a detention center in Valadarski Street.
The post address of Babruisk penal colony No. 2: 213800, 1 Sikorsky Street, Babruisk, Mahiliou Region, PK No. 2
On February 24, Viasna members received another postcard from Ales Bialiatski. On the postcard, the words “22.02.2012, Volodarka” appear in Ales’s handwriting.
He writes that " I have been ‘in transit’ for a week…At noon on Friday, I found myself in the center of Minsk, in an atmosphere with which I am well-acquainted. The week has passed by quickly. I think that tomorrow [February 23 – editor], I will be leaving, but if they don’t send me tomorrow, then I will be here a couple more days.”
Based on these words from Ales, it appears possible that he may spend this weekend in Volodarka.
Sergey Sys assumes that such a long stay in Volodarka may be due to the time it takes to get together a group for further transfer.
Meanwhile, the human rights defender Tatiana Revyako notes that Ales Bialiatski had a prophetic dream before his transfer.
“Bialiatski had a prophetic dream before his transfer. I received a letter from him on February 16, from the time when he was still in Zhodino. He wrote: ‘Last night I had a dream about you, Irka Tolstik, Valik, and myself. We were sitting in some sort of a mud house and talking about our affairs. It was summer…Then I crawled out of this hut and took flight. I was flying above tall pine trees. Then I came down and said, ‘See how unique I am! I can do what no one else can – fly!’ And what do you know, they came this morning and said, ‘get your things together, your flying off on a new transfer.’ I read this and I thought: maybe this really is prophetic, not only in the sense of ‘flying off’ on a transfer, but also in the sense that Ales will ‘take flight’ from his hut this summer. I would like to believe this,” wrote Tatiana Revyako, sharing quotations from the letter she received.
Members of the Human Rights Center "Viasna" learned this from a postcard received on February 21 that was sent by Ales from the Minsk Detention Center-1 (Volodarka).
“Hello! In transit, I have found myself in my old place within the near and dear walls of Volodarka. I think I will soon move (be taken) on. I feel your vibes….:)”
The date on the postmark is 20:02:12.
On February 17, Viasna learned that its head, Ales Bialiatski, was transferred from Zhodino Prison No. 8 to Bobruysk Penal Colony No. 2. Viasna was not able to determine at the time if he had actually been delivered to Bobruysk. Judging by this postcard, Ales was held at Volodarka during this transfer.
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