Belarusian activist goes deaf in punishment cell

May 22, BPN. A disabled activist who was sentenced to 18 years in prison for his role in a supposed plot to overthrow the government of Belarus lost his hearing while spending a week in a punishment cell, his family said.

Uładzimir Hundar wrote in a letter that he had left the Hrodna prison’s punishment cell on May 5 “absolutely deaf.” His relatives received the letter on May 20 and read it at a ceremony in Warsaw the next day, where Hundar was awarded the Pahonia medal by the Rada of the Belarusian National Republic, an exiled Belarusian governemnt.

“I can’t hear a thing, my ears hurt. A doctor yesterday promised me that he would make me an appointment with an otolaryngologist. The guys shout in my ear when they want to communicate something,” Hundar wrote.

Hundar, who’s leg had been amputated, was first sentenced in May 2021 for allegedly assaulting a police officer during a search. He was later accused of being part of a resistance group led by Mikałaj Aŭtuchovič, a businessman and activist who was convicted of terrorism and attempted coup in October 2022.

In April 2023, Hundar received an additional two-and-a-half years for insulting the prosecutor at his trial. He faces a total of 20 years in a maximum-security prison, according to his wife.

Human rights defenders declared both Aŭtuchovič and Hundar political prisoners.