How Belarusian political prisoners are punished for “disobeying prison authorities”
. / Euroradio/OpenAI
Thousands of political prisoners have passed through Belarusian prisons, and about a hundred of them were not released immediately after serving their sentences. Instead, prison administrations initiated new cases against them while they were still in the penal colonies under Article 411 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus (“Wilful disobedience to the requirements of the administration of a correctional institution”).
Article 411 has existed in Belarusian law since the 1990s. As former prisoners explain, it was originally introduced to maintain control over high-ranking criminal inmates ("blatnye"). Reportedly, there are still ordinary criminals in penal colonies who have been tried under this article nearly a dozen times.
Today, however, this article is also being used against political prisoners to extend their time in detention. Several recently released Belarusians spoke to Euroradio about this practice.
Preparations for the 2025 "Elections"
Tamaz Pipia was detained in September 2020 and sentenced to 6 years and 6 months in prison for "participation in mass riots." While serving his sentence in Penal Colony No. 1, a new criminal case was opened against him under Article 411.
According to Pipia, the trigger for the additional prosecution was media coverage about him. On April 2, 2024, he was put into a punishment cage, and that evening a colony officer read aloud articles published about Tamaz.
Legally, the case was framed as a "refusal to clean the toilet facilities." However, as prisoners note, agreeing to such work means bringing severe trouble upon oneself in the colony. Toilets are mostly cleaned by inmates holding a "low status," such as those convicted of pedophilia.
Spiryn chose a new prison term — another year, but this time in a maximum-security colony.
— I do not judge those people who broke down and agreed to do this work under any circumstances. First, it's all just a game. Second, everyone has their own pain threshold. I understand how hard it was for them in the colony and how much pressure was put on them to agree to do it, — Spiryn says.
Former political prisoner Ihar Karnei recalls facing a similar provocation while in the PKT [tight-regime cell]. Entering the exercise yard, he noticed a lot of trash: cigarette butts, apple cores, scraps of paper.
— And they force you to clean up what isn't yours. This is done deliberately to frame you for a violation. In any case, work meant for the "muzhiks" that involves cleaning toilets or taking out the garbage automatically demotes you to a low caste.
Naturally, I refused, because once you do it, there is no getting out. And they specifically turned on their body cameras. They repeated several times: will you clean or will you not? I said I wouldn't, because it was a provocation. And on those grounds, they filed a report.
— They gave me a paper to read, cobbled together somewhere at the warden's level, stating that I had "repeatedly and systematically violated internal discipline and disobeyed requirements, on the basis of which I deserve a harsher punishment."
The paper was dated October 11, meaning Ihar went a whole month without knowing a criminal case had been opened against him. Furthermore, in early October, Ihar had learned about his wife's cancer diagnosis.
How the persecution develops
According to Karnei, "Article 411 doesn't just appear out of nowhere" — to slap someone with it, they need to rack up violations. In his case, they started piling them on while he was still in quarantine.
Karnei arrived at the penal colony in June 2024 and immediately experienced the full algorithm of pressure. For trivial infractions, such as failing to greet a colony employee (which must be done every single time you encounter one), a report is drawn up to be reviewed by the warden and a board. At first, you might get a reprimand, followed by being stripped of care packages, visits, and phone calls.
Once enough of these violations accumulate, the inmate is sent to the SHIZO [punishment cell]. After several stints there, they are moved to the PKT [tight-regime cell].
— Those conditions are actually better, because you have the chance to order three books a week and correspond with relatives. But this place is a direct pipeline to having a new criminal charge brought against you.
According to Ihar Karnei, this kind of pressure on prisoners is tied to how often they are mentioned on the outside.
— I think they have a list of people who need to be squeezed. I know people who coasted through their terms, spending a couple of times in the SHIZO just for show, but they didn't face that kind of targeted pressure.
