The Pre-Trial Detention Centre of the KGB of Belarus (Belarusian: Следчы ізалятар КДБ Беларусі, romanized: Sledčy izaliatar KDB Bielarusi; Russian: Следственный изолятор КГБ Республики Беларусь, romanized: Sledstvenny izolyator KGB Respubliki Belarus, СИЗО КГБ, SIZO KGB, also informally called Amerikanka (Belarusian: Амерыканка, romanized: Amierykanka, lit. 'American'; Russian: Американка) is a pre-trial prison in the centre of Minsk, operated by the KGB of Belarus.
The prison is used for detaining persons against whom investigation is being carried out by the KGB of Belarus, in particular, in cases where state interests are involved.
The prison firstly operated as the internal prison of the Soviet secret police, the Cheka. It was constructed in the 1920s as part of a complex of buildings used by the Cheka. The informal name Amerikanka is believed to be referring to the prison's form as a Panopticon, based on the design of prisons in the United States.[1][2]
The building was later used by the Cheka's successor organizations, the NKVD and the KGB.
In 1946, after end of World War II and the restoration of Soviet control over Belarus, the building was reconstructed.[3]
Colonel Alexandr Vladimirovich Orlov, head of the Amerikanka: according to the EU, he was personally responsible for "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment of detainees" in the weeks and months after the crackdown on the protests in Minsk on 19 December 2010, on the eve of the 2010 presidential election. He has been on the EU sanctions list between 2011 and 2016
Belarus
