Andrei Sannikov isolated due to his statement on tortures?

Iryna Khalip was denied a meeting with her husband Andrei Sannikov. Neither KGB jail nor a detention facility in Valadarski Street accepts parcels for him.

In the morning on May 18, Iryna Khalip went to the KGB jail for a permission to see her husband. Sannikov’s mother Andrei accompanied her to pass a parcel to him.

The mother of the presidential candidate said Andrei Sannikov was not in the KGB jail. Iryna Khalip and Alla Sannikova went to a detention facility at the Minsk Main Police Department, where KGB prisoners are moved to for further transfer to a correctional colony. But the women were said Sannikov was not in that detention facility.

“We called even to call the detention facility in Zhodzina, but he was not there. Andrei has disappeared. They could not have transferred him to a colony for such a short time. I understand now why they allowed yesterday me to see my husband so fast – they knew that I would not find him in the KGB jail,” Iryna told charter97.org.

Maryna Kavaleuskaya, Andrei Sannikov’s lawyer, was looking for her client for several hours. Finally, she was told in the KGB jail that Sannikov was still there.

Andrei Sannikov’s relatives suppose that his isolation may be caused by a public statement on tortures in court and do not rule out that the political may have been beaten or punished for his refusal to keep silence.

Iryna Khalip said on May 17 that Sannikov’s mother and she had visited the Partyzanski district court, where Sannikov had been tried, and filed a request for a meeting. “We’ve got permission. My mother-in-law is going there tomorrow to pass a parcel. I will come, too,” Iryna said.

Uladzimir Khalip, the father of the journalist, noted that his daughter was denied a meeting with her husband with no reason. Commenting on this, he said that “persecution of the democratic forces, the most politically undesirable and most dangerous for the authorities, continues”. In his account, the pressure will grow. He said the recent events, including the verdict to his daughter, were a “liberalization game”.

Uladzimir Khalip said that the judgement to Iryna was “just a postponed prison sentence, which may be executed when public opinion is calm”.

On May 16, Iryna Khalip was given two years of suspended sentence. She was tried in the criminal case over mass disorders in Minsk on December 19, 2010, under part 1 of article 342 of the Criminal Code (organizing and preparing the actions that breach public order, or taking active part in these actions).

Andrei Sannikov was sentenced to five years in a medium security penal colony on May 14. It is unknown yet where the presidential candidate will serve his term.

He said at the trial that he had been tortured in the KGB jail. KGB chairman Vadzim Zaitsau blackmailed Sannikov threatening the life and health of his wife and son.