Belarusian political prisoner Andrei Bandarenka declared hunger strike in prison

The United Civil party has received a letter from Andrei Bandarenka, who had been sentenced to 7 years of deprivation of liberty and serves the sentence in the correctional colony number 2.

In his appeal the former entrepreneur and a candidate for deputy, a member of the National Committee of the UCP, Bandarenka writes that “having no other possibilities and having exhausted all arguments, seeing hopelessness of the situation, which is escalating into open repressions,” he adopted a decision to declare a hunger strike since 8 a.m. of June15, 2010, ucpb.org website informs.

“Starting from September 2008, after participation in the election campaign of the “chamber of representatives” of the “national assembly” of Belarus, I underwent cynical persecution by law-enforcing agencies which ended in my imprisonment,” Andrei Bandarenka writes. “All attempts to prove my innocence and absurdity of charges against me in Minsk courts were futile.

The court system which is on the leash of the prosecutor’s office, defends exclusively lucrative interests of the regime representatives, and is not able to defend citizens. Such a system has turned into a punitive agency which has noting in common with the rule of law.

By my own example I have felt that it is impossible to find just court in Belarus. Belarusian courts openly trample constitutional rights of citizens, ignore the law of Belarus currently in force, and completely violate international principles of assumption of innocence, right for defense and freedom of Belarus’ citizens.

Because of such a “just court” I am deprived of freedom for my political views, and my family (my father, a pensioner, a wife on a maternity leave and a 2-year-old daughter Masha), have been left without means for living.

Having found myself in such conditions, I am not going to tolerate these facts of persecution and limiting my rights and freedoms.

I demand:

1) Unconditional setting aside of the illegal and unjustified judgment.

2) Dismissal of the criminal persecution.

3) A meeting with representatives of the UCP and independent mass media.

4) A meeting with representatives of international human rights organizations.