Jailed Belarusian activist Syarhey Kavalenka hospitalized

Syarhey Kavalenka, the Belarusian opposition activist who was sentenced last week to 25 months in jail for a parole violation has been sent to a prison hospital in Minsk, the Belarusian capital.

It was not immediately clear why the activist, Syarhey Kavalenka, 37, was transferred from the eastern city of Vitsebsk, where his trial was held, to Minsk.

Kavalenka has reportedly lost some 30 kilograms while on hunger strike and his four-day trial was delayed several times due to health concerns.

Kavalenka's relatives were informed on February 29 by detention center authorities that Kavalenka had been transferred to a prison hospital in Minsk the previous day.

Kavalenka was detained last December for allegedly violating the terms of his parole relating to an earlier conviction for "illegally displaying the banned Belarusian national flag."

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