Having failed repeatedly to arrange for a telephone conversation with her imprisoned son, Marina Lobau told RFE/RL that an online report by RFE/RL’s Belarus Service compelled prison authorities to allow the two to speak.

“Because of Radio Svaboda, I have finally heard the voice of my son,” mother of political prisoner said.

On September 15, Lobau told Radio Svaboda that prison authorities at Ivatsevichy penal colony, where her son Eduard Lobau is serving a four year sentence for hooliganism, were restricting access to her son and that she had not been able to contact him for nearly one month, despite numerous attempts.Marina Lobau warned that she would involve her son’s attorney if she was not permitted to speak to her son within a week’s time.

The day after Radio Svaboda’s report appeared online, Marina Lobau received a phone call from her son. She credits Radio Svaboda with exposing the prison authorities’ mistreatment of her son and with facilitating the long-awaited telephone reunion.

Marina Lobau also said she believes that prison authorities were fully aware of her comments to Radio Svaboda. “They all know that they were written about,” she said. “They read. They’re up to date. And they took offense when I condemned them.”
rfe/rl; palitviazni.info