The political prisoner has had surgery on his leg. It is the second time that Bandarenka has been operated on while serving his term in the penal colony. In July, 2011 the politician underwent a spine operation in Minsk clinical hospital No.5 when spinal disc herniations were removed. Now an abscess caused by urarthritis was removed. Zmitser told his wife about the surgery telephonically.
«After the surgery he hardly managed to put his foot in the shoe to walk. The foot was swollen. He says that the pain has never been that strong,» Volha Bandarenka told the Belarusian Service of Radio Liberty.
Volha Bandarenka asked her husband if he was aware of Lukashenka’s another promise to release those political prisoners who had filed petitions for pardon. Zmitser turned out to know about it but he does not expect to be freed in the near future .
Zmitser Bandarenka has been in the medical unit of the penal colony more than a month suffering from urarthritis and arthroses. Moreover, problems with his spine are coming back. Nevertheless, the interregional medical and rehabilitation commission of experts examined Zmitser’s medical records and concluded that he did not have a disability.
Zmitser Bandarenka, a coordinator of European Belarus civil campaign and Andrey Sannikau’s election agent, was arrested on December 19, 2010, right after the demonstration against election fraud and later sentenced to two years of imprisonment in a minimum security penal colony. Soon after the opposition activist’s arrest his chronic illnesses flared up.
Belsat
