Pro-democracy activist refuses to take mental tests month before her expected release

July 13, BPN. Palina Šarenda-Panasiuk, a pro-democracy stalwart from Brest, refused to take any tests and medicines at Minsk’s national mental hospital, where she was taken for examination from prison last week, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported citing her relatives.

She was sent to Detention Center No. 1 in Minsk on July 6 and later transferred back to Penal Colony No. 24.

Several weeks ago, the European Belarus activist filed an official request to renounce her citizenship in protest against torture, her husband said.

In June 2021, a court in Brest sentenced her to two years in prison for a scuffle with a police officer during a raid on her home, and for allegedly insulting police and the head of state. Ten months later, a court in Homiel sentenced her to an additional year for defying police orders.

Her sentence is due to end on August 6, but the husband, who lives abroad together with their two children after fleeing the country from politically-motivated persecution, fears that she will not be freed and might be re-sentenced.