Human rights group: Belarusian political prisoner’s situation “obscure”

May 12, BPN. Former presidential contender Viktar Babaryka, who was sentenced to 14 years in a penal colony, remains in an “obscure” situation, a human rights group has said.

Mayday.Team said Babaryka was hospitalized with signs of physical abuse and his current location is unknown. It cited unconfirmed information that he is no longer listed in his labor squad.

The group also said a former inmate of the Navapołack colony confirmed that Babaryka had been held in its internal prison and faced “powerful pressure” from the staff. Other prisoners were banned from talking to him, it said.

Babaryka’s hospitalization with signs of beating and a collapsed lung was reported by a worker rights group last month. His team said his whereabouts were unknown on April 28.

The Rabočy Ruch group said Babaryka was at Navapołack’s city hospital for “about a week” before being taken to a prison hospital in Minsk “around May 3.”