Former Belarusian political prisoner Palina Szarenda-Panasyuk spoke out about the torture and cruel treatment she was subjected to in prison, BTA reports.
She was released on February 1 after four years in prison, where she was held for participating in protests against the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko in 2020.
At a press conference in Vilnius, Lithuania, where she managed to escape after her release, Palina revealed that she was placed in a psychiatric hospital as part of the punitive psychiatric practice that she said still exists in Belarus, inheriting traditions from Soviet times. She showed reports from prison psychiatrists, which diagnosed her with “paranoid personality disorder“, explaining that she was a “political prisoner“.
Over the past five years, more than 3,700 people in Belarus have been convicted on political grounds, reports the non-governmental organization “Vyasna“. However, in recent months, Lukashenko has pardoned dozens of political prisoners, including women and the sick.
Palina said she applied for clemency after being threatened with an extension of her sentence. She feared she would never see her children. She was initially sentenced to two years in prison, but was later sentenced to two more years. She was kept in cold conditions and in constant light.
Prisoners were often forced to record videos pleading for clemency and sign documents of cooperation with the Belarusian KGB. Palina admitted to signing such documents, but later retracted her signature.
In January, Lukashenko was re-elected for a seventh presidential term.