UN considers Andrei Sannikau’s appeal

In the UN Human Rights Committee they are considering the Belarus presidential candidate’s complaint on violation of his rights.

Andrei Sannikau sent the appeal to the UN Human Rights Committee in several months after his release from prison in July 2012. Today it became known that the appeal is being taken into consideration.

“It is the matter of violation of my rights during the arrest, prison detention, investigation and trial. Tortures were used against me. All my rights were violated for political reasons: as a civil person and as a presidential candidate. In the appeal each violation of the acrticle of the optional Protocol of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is being analyzed in detail.

In this document I do not only speak about the violation of my rights, but the violation of the rights of the citizens of Belarus for freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of peaceful protest and freedom of choice.

This is a necessary measure in order to acknowledge the violation of the international law on the part of Belarusian authorities. This would mean my full rehabilitation even according to the Belarusian laws as in Belarus’ Constitution the primacy of the international law is stated. According to the international obligations the authorities of every country that have signed the Protocol have to follow the decisions take on such appeals. It is worth noting that Belarus has ratified the Protocol in 1992. And it is not important if they will or will not follow the decision of the Human Rights Committee. Such a decision will give me a moral and legal right to put forward accusations against the Belarusian authorities”, - Sannikau told in an interview to charter97.org.

The leader of the European Belarus civic campaign, 2010 presidential candidate Andrei Sannikau was arrested on 19 December 2010 on charges of organizing the protest against the falsification of the presidential elections’ results. He was sentenced to five years in prison. In prison he underwent tortures and humiliation. He was released in 1.5 years. He had to leave Belarus as the authorities threatened him with a repeated arrest. He received a political asylum in Great Britain.