“50 people cramped in one prison cell, all arrested beaten up”

Conditions at Minsk Akrestsina Detention Center, where protesters are kept

11 August 2020, 22:41 | Radio Free Europe
The relatives of those who were detained during 9 August protests lining up in front of detention center on Akrestsina street in Minsk.
Source: Radio Free Europe

Two actresses of Belarus Free Theatre, Sviatlana Sugaka and Nadezhda Brodskaya, are kept under arrest at Akrestsina detention center in Minsk. They were sentenced to 10 and 13 days respectively. 

On 9 August, they were detained during a protest. The two actresses were charged with violation of the procedure of conducting a public event. Mikalay Sugaka, the father of Sviatlana Sugaka, got this information from a woman who was released from the same detention center. She only had to pay a fine. 

“She said there are 36 women in a 6 by 4 meters prison cell. They are deprived of food, and only water is offered. And there are 50 men cramped into the same 6×4 cell. They are all beaten up systematically. Prison guards open those little windows intended for food handling in all women cell so they can see the men, and scoff “Look at your warriors”. Basically, by doing so the guards are showing who the authority is,” Mikalay Sugaka commented.