Rights groups demand investigation into jailed activist’s death

May 10, BPN. Belarusian human rights groups have issued a joint statement demanding that authorities investigate the death of jailed opposition activist and blogger Mikałaj Klimovič.

It also urges the authorities to check the availability of medical care in prisons.

Klimovič, 61, died in Penal Colony No 3 in Vićba, Viciebsk region. Authorities informed his family on May 7. He had a heart condition that required constant medical care and feared that any prison term would be fatal for him. The blogger was serving a one-year sentence for insulting Alaksandr Łukašenka with a face-swap picture.

“Every day thousands of inmates in Belarusian prisons suffer because of violations of the constitutional right to health care,” the statement stresses.

Belarus “fails to meet its obligations to ensure that the right to life is duly protected by law,” human rights defenders said noting that authorities deny medical care to put political prisoners under pressure.

The rights groups urged the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Investigative Committee to investigate Klimovič’s death, open criminal proceedings and disclose the investigation’s outcomes to the public.

They also called on the authorities to investigate other violations of the right to health care in prisons as well as compliance with the Constitution and Belarus’ international obligations by prison authorities and other government agencies.

The statement has been signed by the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, the Viasna Human Rights Center, the Belarusian Association of Journalists, the Office for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Lawtrednd, Paravavaja Inicyjatyva, Belarusian PEN, Human Constanta, Barys Zvozskaŭ Human Rights House and doctors’ associations.