Mikalaj Autuchovic is dying in a Belarusian prison. It is the EU’s approach to the Belarusian regime that that may silence him to death.

Mikalaj Autuchovic, Jury Lavonau and Uladzimier Asipienka have been in custody since February 8, 2009. They were accused of “destroying property” in 2005 in a case which had already been investigated in the proper manner and on which the sentence had been passed. The injured party hasn’t filed any official claims on any of the three.

Mikalaj Autuchovic and Jury Lavonau already served sentences passed in a case  widely believed to have a political background and have been recognized as prisoners of conscience by ‘Amnesty International’.

There have been almost no investigative actions conducted. Until recently the case investigator denied meetings with their family members.

Mikalaj Autuchovic is on a hunger strike since April 16 demanding that either his case is sent to court or he is released. On June 2, however the prosecutor extended the investigation on his criminal case until July 3.

He has lost nearly 30 kilos after 7 weeks on his hunger strike.

Until now, he has received no support from the EU. In his May 26 report on  Belarus for PACE, Mr. Rigoni did not mention a word about Mr Autuchovic’s hunger strike, which had lasted for 1,5 months at that point. Based on that report, PACE came out unanimously in favour of restoring the special guest status of the Belarusian Parliament at PACE.

(more…)