EU on Belarusian political prisoner Vadzim Khrasko: ‘Regime is fully responsible for the health and safety of prisoners’

The regime in Belarus is “fully responsible for the health and safety of prisoners”, Peter Stano, Lead Spokesperson for the External Affairs of the European Union, said on 15 January, reacting to the recent death of political prisoner Vadzim Khrasko in a Belarusian prison.

According to the Belarusian NGO ‘Viasna’, 50-year-old Vadim Khrasko died on the night of 8-9 January from pneumonia in Vitebsk colony No. 3. Hrasko was arrested on April 15, 2023. In August,  he was sentenced to three years in prison.

“Vadzim Khrasko is yet another political prisoner who died in a penal colony, due to inadequate medical care,” Peter Stano wrote on X. “The regime is fully responsible for the health and safety of prisoners. The EU demands the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners.” 

Vadim Hrasko became the fourth Belarusian political prisoner to die behind bars after Vitold Ashurak, Mikalai Klimovich, and Ales Pushkin.

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