Viktar Babaryka says he was forced to get vaccinated against Covid-19 in the prison, threatened with a ban on family visits

December 28. Former banker and ex-presidential contender Viktar Babaryka was forced to get vaccinated against Covid-19 with the Russian vaccine Sputnik V in the penal colony, his headquarters reports, citing political prisoner’s letter.

Babaryka wrote that he was “forced” to get vaccinated because he was “intimidated by a ban on family visits.”

The political prisoner turned 58 on November 9. On this day, “everything was quiet and calm”, he noted in the letter. According to Babaryka, “everyone is forbidden to communicate” with him in the penal colony, hence “there was nothing going on and I didn’t eat anything delicious.”

“Regarding work, everything is the same. Nothing has changed, and I live like in the movie “Groundhog Day”. Only that the hero of this movie had the opportunity to develop, while intellectual development is being stiffled in this place,” he wrote.

On July 6, the Supreme Court sentenced Viktar Babaryka, the former head of Belgazprombank board, to 14 years in prison, finding him guilty of taking a bribe on a particularly large scale (part 3 of Art. 430 of the Criminal Code) and of legalizing funds obtained by criminal means (part 2 of Art. 235 of the Criminal Code).

Babaryka is serving his sentence in the penal colony No. 1 in Navapolack (Viciebsk region). In August, he started working in a bakery. According to human rights defenders, the conditions of Babaryka’s detention in the penal colony worsened due to insufficient ventilation and temperatures above 30 degrees in the bakery.