Read the note on political prisoners in Belarus
9 political prisoners in Belarus are in critical situation and freedom for 32 activists is restricted
Evidence gathered by FIDH and its member organisation in Belarus, Human Rights Centre Viasna, clearly contradicts the statement made at a press conference [1] on February 14, 2013 by the Belarusian Deputy Prosecutor, General Alyaksey Stuk, that the detention conditions of the 9 detainees currently identified by our organisations as political prisoners in Belarusian prisons and penal colonies are not different from the conditions of other prisoners. The 9 detainees suffer regular punishments that sharply exacerbate the already difficult conditions of their detention by restricting their means of support and quality of food and medical assistance. Often deprived of meetings with relatives, and subject to limits on correspondence, and constant pressure to make them write petitions for pardon, the physical ordeal of these individuals is intensified by psychological ordeals, qualifying detention conditions as inhuman and degrading treatment, prohibited by the articles 7 and 10 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and article 16 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.