Activist Pyotr Markelau, who spend 14 days in a predetention facility in Minsk, has been released on Monday. The man has been met by human rights defenders and associates from the Youth Bloc.
“What is the worst in the predetention centre is the way its personnel treats prisoners, not confinement conditions,” he stressed.
Markelau is going to appeal the court’s decision and file a complaint against the ‘outrage’ in jail to a corresponding authority. According to Pyotr, he was intentionally put in a cell where sick people were being kept.
As reported earlier, Markelau’s fellow inmate said that the confinement conditions were poor; the activist complained of insanitariness and lice in the cell. His defense lawyer Alvina Minhazova was not allowed to see Pyotr Markelau for several days.
On December 9, a Minsk court ruled to punish Pyotr Markelau, who was an observer during the recent parliamentary elections, with a 14-day jail term.
Markelau observed the process of casting ballots at Precinct Nr 286 of the 99th constiturncy. When he started to film Youth Bloc candidate Stas Shashok’s demanding to recount the votes, a police patrol arrived at the scene and then forcibly removed him from the polling station. The observer was handcuffed and taken to the police station. Later, he was charged with disorderly conduct and disobedience to police officers.
