Protest against police abuse: Jailed diabetic continues hunger striking in Pastavy
Anatol Astrouski, a resident of the town of Pastavy (Vitsebsk region), has spent five days without food in protest against lawlessness and his being kept behind bars.
Astrouski went on a hunger strike when he was placed in custody on September, 23 over participating in ‘an unauthorised event’. The term of detention expired on September 25, but the man was released and immediately detained again; the police drew a new protocol upon him for showing up at the mass protest action that took place on August, 16.
Then, the rally was attended by more than two thousand people. Notably, the citizens received local police officials’ verbal consent to holding the event, but now the police keep denying it. Such ‘police hipocrisy’, as Astrouski puts it, bolstered his resolve to protest.
He demands that the police drop the case against him and apologise for arbitrary detention.
Although Anatol Astrouski is a diabetic patient, he has refused to eat and take medicines. His wife is not allowed to visit Anatol; she hired a defence lawyer so that someone could see the detainee and get information about his health state.
