The authorities pf Prison Nr 8 in Zhodzina are exerting pressure on Pavel Vinahradau, the human rights centre Viasna reports.
Pavel Vinahradau is a blogger and the author of one of Belsat TV satirical shows. In 2021, Vinahradau spent 48 days behind bars as he was punished with administrative arrest three times in a row.
According to human rights defenders, he has been listed as ‘a person prone to extremism and other destructive activity’; a few reports have been drawn upon him for allegedly violating internal rules.
Being added to the above mentioned list means more severe treatment of an inmate and restricting their rights even in prison, e.g. there is a special place in the cell where such prisoner has to be when a jailkeeper enters; they are also expected to be regularly called in for preventive conversations. Since recently, such measure has been often applied against political prisoners, i.e. Darya Chultsova, Katsyaryna Andreyeva, Uladzimir Matskevich, Andrey Alyaksandrau, and others.
Vinahradau was detained on December 22 in his house in Berazino. Then he was charged with ‘incitement of hatred’ (Article 130 of the Criminal Code), ‘organisation and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them’ (Art.342), ‘slander against the president’ (Art. 367-2).
One can write a letter to support the prisoner:
Павел Вінаградаў
турма № 8, вул. Савецкая, 22а,
222160, г. Жодзіна, Менская вобласць,
Belarus / Беларусь
