28 February 2008
Prison administration directs that Kazulin should report himself by 8 p.m.

The administration of the Vitsba 3 correctional institution has directed that Alyaksandr Kazulin should return to the prison by 8 p.m. on February 28.

According to Ihar Rynkevich, a former lawyer for Dr. Kazulin, the administration explains that the decision to grant the inmate a three-day leave in connection with the death of his wife was made at about 8 p.m. on February 25.

As Mr. Rynkevich told BelaPAN, under the Criminal Procedure Code, the short-term leave should not include the time spent on traveling to the place of destination and back. Since Dr. Kazulin arrived home at about 1 a.m. on February 26, he has to depart from Minsk at about 1 a.m. on February 29 and should return to the correctional institution without being accompanied by any police escort, he said. This means that Dr. Kazulin may return to the prison at about 5 a.m. on Friday, he added.

“That’s why the authorities’ decision on the deadline for Dr. Kazulin’s return deprives him of at least eight hours of freedom,” Mr. Rynkevich concluded.

According to him, he stated his case in a telephone conversation with the deputy chief of the prison at about 10:30 a.m. on Thursday.

The Vitsba 3 correctional institution is located a few miles from Vitsyebsk. The city is about four hours by car from Minsk.

Dr. Kazulin, rector of Belarusian State University between 1996 and 2003 who was a candidate in Belarus' 2006 presidential election, was arrested during a police crackdown on a peaceful post-election opposition demonstration on March 25, 2006. He was sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison on charges of hooliganism and the organization of group actions disturbing the public peace.

Dr. Kazulin has been held in the Vitsba 3 correctional institution since September 21, 2006.
His wife, Iryna Kazulin, died on February 23 at the age of 48 after a 10-year battle with breast cancer.