Wife fears for life of jailed activist Daškievič

January 20, Pozirk. Belarusian authorities have held activist Źmicier Daškievič in severe conditions for more than half a year, according to a post by his wife Nasta Daškievič.

“Źmicier spent half a year in a concrete cage in Žodzina,” she said on Facebook. “In solitary confinement all the time, from July to January. Now he has been transferred back to Navasady, where the criminal case was opened against him. He is in a punishment cell again and complains about extreme cold. He says he has to exercise eight times a night to keep warm. For that reason, they draw up [disobedience] reports against him.”

“I am afraid for his life and his health,” she said. “I want my children’s dad to return home safe and healthy.”

Daškievič serves a one-year sentence for allegedly defying prison administration orders. This is the fourth politically-motivated sentence for the former Małady Front leader, rights activists say.

In July 2022, a Minsk judge sentenced him to 18 months in prison and his wife to three years of restricted freedom, a form of home confinement, for allegedly taking part in a demonstration against electoral fraud two years earlier. They have four children.