KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – A wave of COVID-19 has engulfed prisons in Belarus filled with people in custody for demonstrating against the country’s authoritarian president and some of the protesters who contracted the coronavirus while detained, accuse the authorities of ignoring or even encouraging infections.
Activists who spoke with The Associated Press after their release described hugely overcrowded cells with no proper ventilation or basic amenities and a lack of medical treatment.
Kastus Lisetsky, 35, a musician who was jailed for 15 days for attending a protest, said he had been admitted to a prison in Eastern Belarus with a high fever and diagnosed with double-sided pneumonia caused by COVID after eight days. -19.
“Damp walls covered with parasites, the shocking lack of sanitation measures, chills and a rusting bed – that was what I got in Mogilev prison instead of medical help,” Lisetsky told the AP in a telephone interview. “I had a fever and lost consciousness, and the guards had to call an ambulance.”
Lisetsky said that before entering the prison, he and three band members were held in a Minsk prison and had to sleep on the floor of a cell intended for only two people. All four contracted the virus. Lisetsky must return to prison to serve the remaining seven days of his sentence after he is released from hospital.
He accused the government of allowing the virus to run wild among those imprisoned for political reasons.
“The guards openly say they are doing it deliberately on orders,” Lisetsky said.
More than 30,000 people have been detained for participating in protests against the re-election of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in August in a vote that opposition activists and some election officials say was rigged to give Lukashenko a sixth term.
Police have repeatedly broken peaceful protests with batons and stun grenades. The alleged electoral fraud and brutal crackdown on demonstrations prompted the United States and the European Union to introduce sanctions against Belarusian officials.
Opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who came second in the presidential election and was forced to leave the country after contesting the official results and getting Lukashenko 80% of the vote, urged foreign leaders and international organizations to intervene to stop the outbreak of to help stop the coronavirus in Belarus’ prisons.
“Inmates in central Europe are being deliberately infected with the coronavirus,” Tsikhanouskaya told The Associated Press. “They move the infected people from one cell to another, and the cells are overcrowded and have no ventilation. It is an atrocity, it can only be judged as abuse and torture. “
Authorities have not released the number of inmates with COVID-19, but rights activists say thousands of protesters tested positive after being detained.
“The terrible state of the Belarusian penitentiary system has contributed to an outbreak of COVID-19 in prisons, but authorities have not even tried to improve the situation and have put thousands of activists on that conveyor belt,” said Valiantsin Stefanovic, deputy. chairman of the Viasna rights center, said.
Artsiom Liava, a 44-year-old journalist, said he became infected last month while awaiting trial in a prison cell that was intended to house 10 but to house about 100 inmates. Liava was detained while reporting on a protest in the Belarusian capital Minsk for the independent television channel Belsat.
“First inmates and then I didn’t feel the prison tank anymore,” he told The Associated Press. “We all had a fever, coughing and feeling weak, but they didn’t even give us hot water.”
Liava said he was transferred to various prisons and prisons in Minsk and nearby cities after receiving a 15-day sentence as authorities struggled to accommodate prisoners in overcrowded detention centers. He said he witnessed similar conditions in every case – cellmates who coughed or had difficulty breathing, and prison guards who treated them emphatically.
“It was like a mockery, doctors did not respond to pleas and complaints,” said Liava. “It was forbidden to lie down during the day and the mattresses were folded. We all felt exhausted, but we were forced to sit on iron beds in the basement without any access to fresh air. “
The journalist said he had not received any dose of medicine during his stay behind bars. The day after he left prison, Liava said, he tested positive for COVID-19, and a CT scan showed that his lungs had been badly affected.
“Prison doctors should be prosecuted for negligence. They endangered our lives by denying us basic medical treatment, ”said Liava, who coughed heavily and had difficulty breathing while speaking to the AP.
Belarus has reported more than 180,000 confirmed coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic, but many in the ex-Soviet republic of 9.4 million suspect authorities are manipulating statistics to hide the true extent of the country’s outbreaks.
Lukashenko arrogantly dismissed the coronavirus early during the pandemic, shaking off the fear and national blockages the new bug had caused as “psychosis” and advising citizens not to catch it by driving tractors in the field, drinking vodka and saunas to visit. His stance has angered many Belarusians, increased public outcry over his authoritarian style and sparked post-election protests.
Ihar Hotsin, a doctor who worked at a leading oncology hospital in Minsk, was detained while attending a rally of medical workers opposing the crackdown on demonstrations. He said he and four of his arrested colleagues all contracted the virus while in custody.
Hotsin, 30, believes he became infected in the prison in the city of Baranovichi, where he was held in a 12 square meter (129 square feet) cell along with about 80 other inmates.
“Five doctors from our hospital were detained, and all five tested positive for COVID-19 after they were released, a percentage of 100%,” Hotsin said. “We have to shout out loud about a COVID-19 outbreak in prisons overcrowded with political prisoners.”
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