Reprisals against political prisoners’ relatives

“Release” initiative has made an open appeal.

The civil initiative uniting relatives of political prisoners protests against the arrest of Alena Likhavid during the silent protest on July 20 and ongoing repressions by the authorities. We offer the text of appeal:

“Following the presidential elections of 19th December 2010 and the brutal crackdown on protests, the police captured our family members - presidential candidates, members of their election teams and democratic activists. They have been sent to jail for periods ranging from 2 to 6 years.

Our loved ones have been taken away from us. It is already seven months since they were imprisoned on false charges. They have been subjected to inhuman treatment and denied full rights of correspondence and adequate medical care. They have also been unable to meet with their relatives and lawyers and obtain information from the outside world.

Not only are we denied the right to see our loved ones, but we are also denied the right to a normal life. We are subjected to moral pressure, searches, interrogations and attempts to recruit us as KGB informers. Lukashenka's authoritarian regime might feel victorious and relax: its opponents are in jail and their relatives are standing outside the prison walls.

But the regime has not relaxed: today they are coming after us, too.

In the past few months, Maryna Lobava (mother of political prisoner Eduard Lobau) and Tatsiana Seviarynets (mother of Pavel Seviarynets) have been put under trial and spent several days under arrest.

On 20 July, unidentified persons in plain clothes abducted Alena Likhavid, mother of the political prisoner Mikita Likhavid, in the centre of Minsk.

The following day, in violation of the law, the Court of the Central District of Minsk condemned her to 10 days of administrative arrest. The judge accepted the evidence of the six thugs who had "bravely" captured her.

However, it is not enough for the regime to keep Mikita Likhavid in the prison’s disciplinary cell for months. The regime also wants to suppress his family, to demonstrate its power and isolate them from society in order to hide the truth behind the bars.

We, the relatives of prisoners who became the victims of political repressions after the presidential elections of 19th December 2010 in Belarus, see this as an attempt by the regime to put pressure on our loved ones and subject us to repression. They seem to fear us and believe that by repressing the relatives, they can hide the traces of their crimes and suppress our desire to fight for the liberation of our family members.

We demand the immediate release of all political prisoners and an immediate halt to the persecution of their relatives. We demand full and fair legal prosecution of the criminal actions committed by allegedly "unidentified" persons in plain clothes in the streets of Minsk, as well as prosecution of the continuing abduction of civilians and their subsequent conviction. We demand unconditional punishment of those responsible for violence against the citizens of Belarus.

The Civic Initiative Vyzvalennie