‘Transferred From Cell To Cell’: What Is Happening To Pavel Seviarynets In Hrodna Prison #1?
- 24.07.2023, 16:06
The mother of the political prisoner received several letters from him at once.
One of the leaders of the Belarusian Christian Democracy, political prisoner Pavel Seviarynets, has been in custody since June 7, 2020. From him, like from many other well-known political prisoners, news rarely comes.
In early July, it became known that Pavel was transferred to prison #1 in Hrodna. His mother, Tatsiana Seviarynets, told Narodnaya Volya that she had already received news from her son from the Hrodna prison: three letters came first, then seven more in more than a week, and then another one.
She and her son mark their letters with ordeal numbers, so the mother knows that the ones that were considered missing have reached the addressee. Pavel sends drawings from prison, among other things: he draws for his son Francišak, and recently sent a portrait of his niece.
The prison regime affects parcels, postal packages and so on, but even in prison the rules allow you to send something small. The mother sends letters to her son with empty envelopes, as he cannot get them in prison. It looks like the political prisoner is being transferred from cell to cell — in his letters he lists at least three different cell numbers.
“He reports briefly: “Thank God, I’m fine.” Naturally, he cannot write any details of his stay in prison, censorship simply will not let it go outside the prison walls. This became clear a long time ago,” says the mother of the political prisoner.
Tatsiana Seviarynets recalls how she asked her son on a short visit in the colony to tell her “how his life was here.” He just shook his head, saying he was not supposed to discuss such things there. But, says the mother: “Pavel is holding on, sending greetings to everyone. He understands everything and knows everything. And, if he doesn’t know about something, he guesses how it should be”.
Pavel Seviarynets was sentenced to 7 years of imprisonment in a reinforced-security colony for “organizing mass riots”. On June 21, 2023, the court decided to change the preventive measure to prison for the next three years. In early July, it became known that the political prisoner had been transferred to prison #1 in Hrodna.