TO MASS MEDIA

We, officers of the Committee of State Security (KGB) of the Republic of Belarus want to make a matter of public knowledge the fact that the administration of the Minsk detention center is using unlawful methods of physical influence on the former presidential candidate Alexander Kozulin, recently sentenced to five and a half years in prison.

After Alexander Kozulin was transferred to the Minsk detention center, officers of the epidemiological service established that the drinking water in the center, located at the Volodarksi Street in Minsk, is contaminated with a poisonous chemical substance of unknown origin. The administration of the detention center was informed about that fact. However, nobody took any measures in response to this information, nor conducted any investigation or expertise in order to establish the source and the origin of the substance, and how it could have appeared in the detention center’s water system. The doctors of the sanitary service who established this fact were required to refrain from further reporting and forced to sign statements of non-disclosure. The results of their investigation were classified as “top secret.”

In spite of the fact that clean drinking water is available in the prison’s shop, it is not sold to the detained individuals. Thus, all detainees, not just Mr. Kozulin, are being poisoned. It is obvious that it is deliberate, in order to weaken Mr. Kozulin’s health. It is therefore not surprising that Mr. Kozulin eye sight grew weaker in just a short period of time while under arrest. He is now developing heart problems. It is notable that before his arrest, Mr. Kozulin did not have medical complaints. Health of other detainees is also seriously jeopardized.

As we were able to find out, the poisonous substance in question was a chemical developed in the secret KGB laboratories in the Soviet times. It was used as a weapon in military conflicts. Upon entering the human body, the substance is able to remain there for a long time and is very difficult to remove. Also, with each additional intake of water, the substance continues to build up. In several months, the body begins to develop irreversible changes  that deteriorate the immune system, worsening of chronic conditions and subsequent disability. In a military conflict, the weapon is added to the enemy’s water supplies. If the affected personnel are not given medical attention, in several months they lose combat ability. We know that this weapon was used in the Soviet war in Afghanistan during prolonged sieges of the enemy’s positions when other methods to overcome their resistance were exhausted.

Why is this weapon now used against Mr. Kozulin? The answer is obvious. During his electoral campaign, Mr. Kozulin raised awareness of the weapon sales by Belarus to rouge regimes and terrorist organizations, so many voters learned that part of their state paid pensions and salaries were being financed by money made on the blood of innocent people. Lukashenko did not forgive this to Kozulin, especially given the fact that, disturbed by Mr. Kozulin’s campaigning, he suffered two strokes immediately after the elections.

Belarusian civic society hopes that thanks to its activities, the term of Kozulin’s detention will be reduced. This is a mistake. Mr. Kozulin was imprisoned not to be released in a few months. On the contrary, as a dangerous opponent to the regime, he was to be securely isolated and, to the extent possible, incapacitated. We are concerned that Mr. Kozulin awaits the fate of the former Ambassador of Belarus to Latvia, Mikhail Marinich, who was deliberately brought to suffer stroke while in detention. Mr. Marinich became a disabled person as a result,  he is still not fully recovered. One can imagine the condition of Mr. Kozulin’s health in five and a half years. The regime will do all in its power to ensure that upon his release he returns home not just a sick person, but a mentally disabled one too, someone who personality will have been utterly degraded.

A clear example of how this can be done is the planned slow elimination of Valery Ignatovich and Dmitry Malik, former officers of the anti-terrorist corps “Almaz,” who were imprisoned on the charges of kidnapping of Dmitry Zavadsky, a Russian TV cameraman and one of the persons who disappeared during the Lukashenko rule.

Already a year ago Dmitry Malik’s mother stated publicly that Valery Ignatovich lost his ability to walk and talk normally. To visitations with parents he is delivered in a wheel chair. Relatives believe that Mr. Ignatovich has little remaining lifetime.

Neither Belarusian defenders nor international human rights organizations have paid attention to these facts and warnings from the detainees’ mothers. The civic society is silent on the use of mentally degrading chemical weapons to detainees in Belarusian prisons, used by the authorities with the purpose of their complete destruction of key witnesses of the crimes committed by the regime. It is time we ended this silence.

Again we are calling to people of good will – civic society, media, politicians – to act to save the lives of Mr. Kozulin and other detainees. It does matter for what real or alleged crimes the detainees are being kept in prison, whether it was a criminal or a political offence. All detainees are equal before law and all have the right for life.

September 6, 2006
Belarusian patriots - officers of the Committee of State Security (KGB)