What does it mean for Kozulin “to stand on the path of correction”?

Yulia, the daughter of political prisoner Alexander Kozulin, recently received a respond to her request to soften the punishment for the father. The chief of the prison in the northern Belarus wrote that it was impossible, because the politician “failed to stand on the path of correction”. The European Radio for Belarus asks former political prisoners what the Department of Corrections means by this wording.

In the words of prominent opposition politician Pavel Sevyarynets, political prisoners have no chances to see their sentence softened even if they received no chastisements from the colony’s administration or went beyond their labor quotas. They are expected to repent.

“The regime wants you to repent in order to make you feel broken and give up. Neither a good behavior nor good work is taken into account in the case of political prisoners. Correction in this case means surrender”.

Sevyarynets told the European Radio for Belarus that when in prison he had been proposed to write a repenting letter to the president. But even his refusal to do so did not prevent him from walking out free after the West stepped up pressure on Belarus.

“I was told to repent, but I refused. Literally one month later, the foreign political situation changed and Belarus engaged in talks with the United States. Eventually, I was freed formally for a good behavior, etc. Therefore, Kozulin can also be freed. A lot depends on the international situation”.

Another former political prisoner Mikola Statkevich also confirms that the Department of Corrections expects confession. But he stressed that if they wish to free someone, they don’t pay attention to the absence of confession.

“I know no political prisoner who has repented and pleaded guilty. But if the authorities need to free someone, they overlook this requirement”.

The politician says there should be a strong foreign political and economic pressure. In the case of Kozulin, the situation is aggravated by Lukashenka’s personal resentment.

“Our country is locked. Economy is weak and depends a lot on external factors. If those factors emerge, he will be freed. But in the case of Kozulin, there is a very strong personal factor. Lukashenka is very quick to take offence. Kozulin ran as a presidential contender and dared say something that Lukashenka only feels used to say. No doubt, he cannot forgive him for that. Lukashenka has to find himself in a deadlock due to strong external factors in order to let Kozulin go”.

Mikhail Marynich, a former minister in the Lukashenka’s government and a former political prisoner, also agrees that the release of Kozulin totally depends on Lukashenka’s decision, not on “returning to the path of correction”.

“Kozulin can be released only by a go-ahead from Lukashenka. Nothing more and nothing less. Lukashenka alone puts a break on Kozulin to remain behind bars. What forgiveness should Kozulin ask for? Exactly like Marynich, what sins had I seek forgiveness for when I was in jail? Kozulin has an absolutely moral advantage in this case”, Marynich said.

He also agreed that the release of Kozulin depends greatly on the external pressure on the Belarusian authorities.

In the words of Valery Levaneuski, formerly also a political prisoner, colony administrators treat prisoners as the one who “stood on the path of correction”, when the latter begin cooperating with the administration and informing on inmates.

He says that under the Penal and Procedural Code, it is the court – not the prison’s administration – that can make a decision about the early release or a softer punishment. The views of the administration can only be taken into account or not. In Kozulin’s case, there is only unwillingness of the authorities to free him. Kozulin remains in jail as a hostage for a future bargaining with the West, in the view of Levaneuski.