“The prosthesis is not used yet.” Political prisoner Vladimer Gundar sent the first letter from the Bobrui colony

2023-06-19 12:28:32

The letter received by relatives is dated June 12. In it, the political prisoner hardly discloses the details of his stage and well-being.

“The stage was long and, most likely, difficult, but Vladimir does not write about it. Instead, he noted that for the first time in two years of unjust imprisonment he had the opportunity to write a letter at the table, and not on his knee. But there is also a problem: during the staging, he lost two notebooks with Bible passages,” said a relative of Vladimir Gundar.

Local historian and publisher from Baranavichy Vladimir Gundar convicted in as many as three criminal cases, a total of 20 years of imprisonment. In prison, Gundar studied the Bible and made notes and comments on what he read. In June, after the rejection of the appeal against the sentence in the case of insulting the prosecutor, Gundar was sent from the remand prison in Hrodna to correctional colony No. 2 in Bobruisk.

Vladimir Gundar has a disability, because he does not have one leg. For more than 2 years, spent in detention centers, Gundar was forbidden to use a prosthesis, he had to move on crutches. Relatives hope that they will allow the prosthesis in the colony.

“He doesn’t know anything about the prosthesis until they tell him. He wrote that he felt normal, without details. About how to eat in new conditions, there is also a minimum. Apparently everything is normal. We will wait for a new letter,” said relatives of the political prisoner.

Recently, Vladimir Gundar turned 63 years old. Relatives of the prisoner know that the administration of the colony demanded from him to reissue his disability pension to an old-age pension.

“The district council (a department of the district administration that deals with social security. – RS) says that he has a disability pension for life, but he will not get a labor pension anyway, because he does not have enough insurance experience. That is, the problem has not yet been solved, we will have to spend a lot of nerves and time,” says a relative of the political prisoner.

Vladimir Gundar is a figure in the “case of terrorism”, in which the well-known businessman and human rights defender from Vaukavysk Mikalai Autukhovich was also convicted. Like Autukhovich, Gundar pleaded not guilty. Human rights activists recognized Vladimir Gundar as a political prisoner.