Mikalai Autukhovich placed in wet cell in basement

• 19.10.2012, 11:48

A political prisoner almost doesn't talk in prison.

“I received a letter from my husband in late September. He is in fighting spirit. I try to prepare him for the necessity to serve the whole term,” Alena Autukhovich, the wife of political prisoner Mikalai Autukhovich, told charter97.org.

Political prisoner's wife says Mikalai Autukhovich almost doesn't talk in prison. “He wrote he talked maximum 15 minutes a day. He didn't explain why.”

The political prisoner was placed in a wet cell in the basement. “He is in the maximum security unit. He is allowed two two-hour visits a year, but only through a glass barrier. He can walk for an hour every day. I am allowed to send him a 30-kg parcel once a year. The prison building is old. His cell is in the basement. The walls are wet. The cell is cold even in summer, let alone winter.”

Mikalai Autukhovich does not receive some things, Alena Autukhovich notes. “Parcels are a problem. I wanted to pass him roach poison, but I wasn't allowed. I was told in prison they would have accepted it if the receiver had not been Autukhovich. They were afraid.”

Friends support Autukovich's family, the wife of the political prisoner stresses: “People ask me every day how Mikalai is and when he will be released. All people who know him say only good things about him,”

Vaukavysk-based businessman Mikalai Autukhovich was sentenced to 5 years and 2 months in prison on accusations of illegal possession of weapons. He didn't admit his guilt at the trial and said he was prosecuted for his anti-corruption activity.