The next stage of the trial over the activist of the REP trade union Polina Sharenda-Panasiuk, who refuses to recognize the legitimacy of the "court" and the "judge" - Stanislav Ivanyutsenko, has started. At the trial she noted that she was a prisoner of war. She also renounced her Belarusian citizenship, thus demonstrating her dislike for the dictatorial regime.
Yesterday, "witnesses" from the colony administration appeared in court and read out a list of alleged "violations of the internal regime" committed by Polina. However, it is interesting that one of the colony employees in fact refused to testify against her, only reading out an obscure text and refusing to answer additional questions.
In response to the accusations, Polina said that she had recently been subjected to a lot of psychological and physical pressure. She had spent most of the year in terrible conditions in the penitentiary and said that in June she had been severely beaten by other inmates, believing that this had happened on the orders of the colony administration.
It was expected that the court would start the debate of the parties and the prosecutor would ask for a prison sentence for Polina. However, the prosecutor unexpectedly asked for additional time to prepare arguments, and the judge declared a break. Consideration of the case will resume only on October 9.
This week Polina will spend in the temporary detention center in Rechitsa. She claims that she is kept in inhuman conditions, deprived of a mattress and other necessary things. In the detention center Polina has to sleep on the floor, as the metal bunks are not suitable for sleeping.
Polina's husband emphasized that neither they nor she have any illusions about the fairness of the "trial". "Judge" Ivanyutsenko already has many political sentences, and Polina may be the first political prisoner to be sentenced under Article 411, despite the expiration of her previous sentences.