Ihar Alinevich sentenced over ‘the case of anarchists’ is kept in the penal colony Vitsba-3.
At the beginning of September Ihar Alinevich managed to phone his mother. She had not talked to him for six months before the call. “ I am not aware of any news of his prison life, he never tells me. During rare visits I see that he has got much more mature, his spirit is still strong, he is the same decent person. He reads a lot. I know that there is shortage of books [in prison] and he has some health problems,” Valiantsina Alinevich says.
When asked whether she hopes for the son’s release on parole due to another thaw of relations with the West, the woman answered: “There is a good expression ‘Don’t trust, don’t be fear, don’t ask’, which is proved by time. The period when one relied on good tsars, Europe and America has passed; I believe only in God, I believe that He will give power to ride this storm to my son, to other political – and not only political – prisoners, their families and all good people.”
Human rights defenders recognise Ihar Alinevich a political prisoner. In December, 2013 he won Frantsishak Aliakhnovich award for his book ‘Going to Magadan’. The award was founded by the Belarusian PEN Centre and Radio Liberty and is given for the best work written in prison. The award was named as a tribute to Frantsishak Aliakhnovich, a Belarusian writer, journalist and Gulag survivor. His experience provided a basis for his 1934 book of In the Claws of the GPU.
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In May, 2011 three Belarusian anarchists were sentenced to different terms of imprisonment (from 3 to 8 years). They were adjudged guilty of arsoning the Russian Embassy building in Minsk.
On August 30th, 2010 unknown perpetrators threw Molotov cocktails at the Russian embassy building. As a result, an embassy employee’s car was damaged. Anarchists were also charged with attempts to burn the Ministry of Defense building, Minsk’s casino Shangri-la, Minsk-Moscow bank, and a building of the Trade Unions Federation.
Three defendants were sentenced to imprisonment in high-security correctional institutions: Ihar Alinevich to 8 years, Mikalai Dziadok to 4.5 years, Aliaksandr Frantskevich to 3 years. They did not plead guilty to the charges.
