Alieh Vouchak Calls to Close Remand Prison in Minsk
Belarusian human rights defender struggles for improvement of the conditions in the prison.
Human rights defender Alieh Vouchak has petitioned the Minsk City Prosecutor's Office to order the closure of the detention center on Akrescina Street until the improvement of the jail's conditions.
Remand prison on Akrescina Street
Mr. Vouchak, who served several sentences in the detention center, insists in his petition that inmates are subjected to torturous and degrading treatment in the jail.
According to the activist, it is too cold in the jail, while its cells lack ventilation, access to drinking water and daylight and are infested with rats. Inmates have no separate bunks, are offered no daily walks outdoors and have no opportunities for physical exercise, Mr. Vouchak says.
Earlier this month, Mr. Vouchak urged the UN special rapporteur on torture to visit the detention center. He said that the conditions in the detention center were in violation of several articles of the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.