URGENT ACTION

DETAINED BELARUSIAN SUFFERS ASTHMA ATTACK

Igor Koktysh, a male social activist, supporter of the Belarusian opposition and musician, has suffered a serious asthma attack in prison in Ukraine. The prison did not provide him with the medication that he needs. He is a prisoner of conscience, and his wife is concerned that his life could be in danger if he suffers another severe asthma attack in prison.

Igor Koktyshis currently held in a detention centre (SIZO) in the southern Ukrainian city of Simferopol. He is asthmatic and suffers from a range of other related health problems. According to his wife, he had a serious asthma attack on 28 November, and was transferred to the detention centre's hospital. However, he was not given any medication. The regular medication he needs to treat his asthma is brought to the detention centre by his wife, but as she is only allowed to visit on weekdays, Igor Koktysh was not given any medication until she came to the detention centre on Monday 30 November. He was then immediately returned to the cell. His wife told Amnesty International that the detention centre provides no medication, as the doctors there claim that they do not have a budget to buy pharmaceuticals. Igor Koktysh has told his lawyer that he fears he will die in detention and that if he were to suffer a serious asthma attack the prison doctors would not be equipped to save his life. The conditions in Simferopol SIZO are poor and are likely to worsen his health. His lawyer has informed Amnesty International that the windows of many of the cells in Simferopol SIZO are covered with metal sheets that allow very little light and air to penetrate. There are often four or more detainees per cell and many of them smoke.

Igor Koktysh, a citizen of Belarus, has been detained in Ukraine pending extradition to Belarus since June 2007. He was harassed and threatened for his political and social activities in Belarus. In January 2001 he was detained and accused of murder. He maintains his innocence and was able to prove that he was in a different town at the time of the murder. Amnesty International believes that the charges were fabricated to punish him for his political and social activism. After a year in detention, during which he was allegedly tortured, he was acquitted of the murder. Igor Koktysh moved to Ukraine, but the Prosecutor General of Belarus appealed against his acquittal on 11 April 2002 and the case was returned to the lower court for a retrial. Igor Koktysh continued his political activities in Ukraine and on 25 June 2007, he was detained by Ukrainian police following an extradition request from Belarus. He is charged under article 139, part 2 of the Criminal Code of Belarus with "premeditated, aggravated murder”, for which the maximum penalty is a death sentence.

PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY in Russian, Ukrainian or your own language:

• Urging the Ukrainian authorities to release Igor Koktysh immediately and unconditionally;

• Calling on them to ensure immediately, in the event that there is a short delay pending finalisation of arrangements for his release, that Igor Koktysh receives full and immediate access to necessary medication and treatment, in accordance with the European Prison Rules and the standards of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment;

• Urging them to ensure that he is provided with effective and durable protection against return to any country where he would be at risk of the death penalty, torture or other grave human rights violations.

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