Former Belarusian Professor Says Political Prisoners Abused For Anti-War Protest

A former Belarusian professor who was arrested for 15 days for allegedly taking part in an anti-war protest in Minsk says detainees were mistreated, including being crammed into a cold cell.

Belarus, an ally of Russia, has banned criticism of Moscow's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

Natalya Dulina, who taught at the Linguistics University, said she was placed into a two-person holding cell at the notorious Akrestsina detention center with 16 other people and not fed until her hearing three days later.

She slept on the floor, she told RFE/RL in an interview following her release.

RFE/RL could not immediately confirm her account but it resembles stories told by former inmates who were held at the same detention center for participating in the political protests that erupted following the disputed 2020 presidential elections.

SEE ALSO: In Belarusian Morgues And Hospitals, Clues To Russian Military Losses In Ukraine

Dulina said she was detained on February 28 outside a Minsk train station where a protest against Russia's invasion of Ukraine was to be held.

Dulina said she was getting ready to take a train to a Minsk suburb when she saw police violently detain a young man who arrived to join the protest.

She said she flew into a rage, yelled at the police, and was taken into custody on charges of participating in a rally that had yet to take place.

While the police did release some detainees who could show they had a train ticket, Dulina said they kept her because she had previously been detained for taking part in political protests.

Dulina was among the thousands of Belarusians arrested during the series of demonstrations that followed the August 2020 presidential election.

Authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka, who has ruled Belarus since 1994, claimed he won the election in a landslide, triggering the largest wave of protests in the country since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

In their February 28 protocol detailing her detention at the train station, Belarusian police accused Dulina of chanting "No to war" and "Glory to Ukraine," something she vehemently denies.

She said a "witness" took the stand at her hearing three days later who could neither recall where she was standing at the train station or who was next to her. The judge, nonetheless, sentenced her to 15 days in jail.

Dulina said she was then transferred to a six-person cell that contained 24 other women.

While most were other political prisoners, the group did include a homeless person and a woman accused of murder, she said.

Dulina said the window on the prison door was kept shut and it was hard to breathe inside the cell.

Inmates were denied packages from family except prescription drugs, she said.

Dulina recalled a guard banging one prisoner's head against a wall after she made requests for medicine and toiletry.

She said "nonpolitical" prisoners were treated better. They were given mattresses with sheets, were allowed to leave the cell for walks in fresh air, and permitted to take showers.

Political prisoners were subjected to roll calls at 2 a.m. and 4 a.m., she said, disrupting their sleep.

Dulina said she and others in her cell caught a severe cold by the end of their 15-day sentence due to the poor conditions.

The U.S. State Department in December slapped visa bans on two heads of the Akrestsina detention center for their involvement in "gross violations" of human rights following the 2020 presidential election.

In a statement, the State Department accused Ihar Kenyukh and Yauheni Shapetska of involvement in "the torture and/or cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment or punishment of detainees" during Lukashenka's brutal crackdown on dissent after the August 2020 vote.