"There, they used a sledgehammer to beat off their own and others' legs, arms, and head"

Every Belarusian colony has its own production facilities.

Mainly it is sewing, shoe production, woodworking.

Since 2015, a new "job" has appeared - stripping insulation from wires, extracting copper and aluminum.

This work, according to former prisoners, was invented specifically for "addicts".

That is, those who are serving a term under Article 328 of the Criminal Code.

Now many prisoners work for "cable".

They say that this work is very difficult.

Salaries for "cable" are 50-70 kopecks per month.

Our interlocutor

(name changed. - RS) was serving a sentence according to the political article in the colony in Glyboky.

"There was no skilled work in the zone.

Everyone was driven to work, except for pensioners and the disabled.

Cut cables, break electric motors.

In short, to extract non-ferrous metal for the country - aluminum, copper.

For metal, people received even 70 kopecks (per month of work. — RS).

Because they calculated.

Some received compensation, others were deducted for food, clothes, bathhouse and "colony fund," says Maxim.

He says that he was not talking about special clothes.

"They worked in what they walked in.

It looked like this: a huge, very dirty workshop.

A truck drives there and dumps cables and electric motors.

From some kind of dumpsters.

And here on this mountain there are "convicts".

In the smoke, in the dirt.

Because the cables are difficult to disassemble, that's why they were burned.

And so the "prisoners" climb this mountain with sledgehammers and tear out aluminum there," says the former prisoner.

He considers it a "concentration camp, torture and mockery".

"There was a lot of trauma there.

Because a sledgehammer flew off a man near me and smashed his whole face, he had a fractured jaw.

The man was taken to the city, stitched up and brought back.

Then one will accidentally hit another's leg or arm with a sledgehammer.

There, bones were broken and shattered.

They somehow made a home-made machine, they did something on it for the police.

Something flew off the machine and broke the boy's arm," says Maksim.

He added that neither safety equipment nor human working conditions were "simply not heard of there."

"A relative earns 10 rubles per month"

relative

(name changed. —

) is serving a sentence in a women's colony in Gomla.

The special enterprise there is mainly engaged in sewing clothes for the police, prosecutor's office, special clothing, bed linen.

The peculiarity was that recently women sewed hats for the military.

"I don't know for which soldiers exactly, but a relative was employed at this production.

She works seven days a week.

I have one day off every two weeks.

Shifts are from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The next one is from 15:00 to 21:30.

Of course, work is hard, and you can't give it up," says Marina.

Her relative earns about 10 rubles per month.

"Wages in the zone - from 2 rubles 50 kopecks to 5 rubles per month"

Prisoners in the Shklov colony work in the garment, shoe, woodworking and "cable" industries.

"Woodworking is sawing logs.

In the summer of 2022, boxes for ammunition began to be made.

I don't know for sure, for the Belarusian army or for the Russian one.

The boxes were black and green.

They sew shoes.

Mainly special, for industrial production.

Clothing is mainly a uniform for cadets, cadets, prosecutors.

But they also sew to order.

For example, there is the Svetlagor enterprise "Svetlatex".

Clothes were sewn for them.

They came and only stuffed their "Svetlatex" tags with a special gun.

That these clothes were supposedly sewn by them, and not by prisoners from the Shklov colony," said

.

He recently served his sentence for a political article.

Siarhei says that the garment and shoe industry is the "elite".

There you can earn from 2 and a half to 5 rubles per month.

"On woodworking, you can count on 53-57 kopecks per month.

The most difficult work is on the "cable".

The work is dirty, in the cold, for pennies," says Siarhei.

There are levies in the zone - "for the troop fund".

"The head of the farm persuades you to write a statement that you sincerely want to help the colony and transfer, say, 50 rubles.

This money goes to repairs and other things.

Refuse - you will get a different attitude.

Your life is guaranteed to be ruined," says the former prisoner.

"Prisoners are completely self-sufficient"

Alexander

served his sentence in colony No. 15, which is located in the village of Veina near Mogilev.

"I will say right away that you never believe when they say: "The prisoners live on our taxes."

This is a lie.

Every colony has a production facility.

They earn 50-70 kopecks there, and even three kopecks can be earned in a month of work.

In our colony, there was woodworking, including making furniture.

But I don't know for whom it was made.

And "cables" are the blackest and hardest work.

Prisoners mine metal, the colony sells it and buys rotten potatoes to feed the prisoners.

Salaries are like that because the colony took everything for itself.

For food, clothes, to the "colony fund", to repair the colony and so on.

You work in one job.

In it, you go to the canteen and around the squad," says Aleksandar.

He added that pallets and various boards are made in the colony.

"They didn't provide us with information about exactly where it all goes," added the former prisoner.

, a former political prisoner, was also serving his sentence in the colony in Vein (near Mogilev. — RS)

.

"In the colony, all work is forced.

Because you cannot choose where you will work.

Wherever they put you, you will go there.

As a rule, politicians with yellow tags are put on the hardest work.

For example, in woodworking, it means dragging 50-kilogram boilers from the first floor to the third floor, to the workshop.

At least it would be possible to place a workshop on the first floor, and it would be logical.

We were doing cod.

They chopped the boards into chips.

It was wrapped in sackcloth.

I don't know where it went after that.

They said that it was for heating in Europe.

But I don't know for sure," says the former prisoner.

He received a salary from 3 to 7 rubles.

Tikhan says that it was difficult to work in the winter, in the cold.

"Because the clothes were light, and winter shoes differed from summer shoes only in that they were a little higher.

The thickness of the sole was the same," added the former political prisoner.

"On the farm, the working day started at 04:30 and ended at 22:30"

Former police prisoner

served his sentence both in "chemistry" and in the colony in Shklov.

He believes that politicians were used "like slaves" for "chemistry".

He worked on a farm as a cattle breeder.

The work shift could start at 04:30 and end at 22:30.

"This is despite the fact that, according to the Labor Code, the length of working hours cannot exceed 40 hours per week," said Viktor.

He says that the management of the collective farm profits from the forced labor of politicians on "chemistry" (in the case of

Victor

this is the farm "Koraline", which belongs to JSC "Belaveski".

- RS), as well as "Savushka product".

Milk from farms is brought to this enterprise.

"And not only from the Kamianets district.

"Chemistry" is also in Beroza," he added.

"As far as "my" farm is concerned, I can say that the officials of JSC Belaveski, the head of the farm

the zootechnician

by agreement with the representatives of "chemistry", i.e. "open-type correctional institution No. 45"

and

organized the illegal use of the labor of political, disloyal prisoners," says Viktor.

He presented the work schedules of the prisoners with the signatures of the persons listed above.

"Two politicians were transferred to "home chemistry" because they became disabled while serving their sentences," says the former prisoner.

He actively defended his rights.

He objected when he was forced to walk 25 kilometers to the farm from "chemistry".

Therefore, he was transferred to the colony in Shklov.

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