Sannikov met with Karpenkas in Esslingen

The Theodor Haecker Prize was awarded in Esslingen, Germany.

This year the prize was given to well-known Azerbaijani human rights advocate, director of the Institution of Peace and Democracy Leyla Yunus.

Leader of the civil campaign European Belarus, presidential candidate of the elections 2010, former political prisoner Andrei Sannikov and the family of Gienadz Karpenka, vice-speaker of the Belarusian Supreme Council who disappeared in 1999, were invited to the ceremony.

The city of Esslingen is the twin-town of Belarusian Maladziechna. Esslingen has been awarding the prestigious prize biannually since 1995.

In 2000, the prize went post mortem to former chairperson of the Electoral Committee of Belarus, deputy of the Supreme Council Viktar Ganchar, kidnapped and murdered in 1999.

In Esslingen during the ceremony the situation with human rights in Belarus and Azerbaijan was discussed.

”I focused basically on the issue of political prisoners in Belarus and help for their families. In Esslingen, there is a very active local office of Amnesty International, other public and religious organizations that are aware of the situation because they keep in touch with Maladziechna. The municipality has addressed the human rights officer of the FRG several times regarding the arrests of 2010. Deputies of Bundestag from Esslingen have raised this issue with the government of the FRG.

This is my second time in Esslingen, but I had a feeling that I have known all these people who show such an interest in Belarus for a long time. All this time they have been helping the family of Karpenka who was the mayor of Maladziechna. They remember and honor the memory of Viktar Ganchar who was Karpenka’s vice-mayor.

It was very nice to meet with the Karpenkas. Their family has grown one member larger: Gienadz Dzmitryieich’s son Dzmitry has got a son Daniil. They have expressed their gratitude to everyone who remembers Gienadz Karpenka, who fights for free Belarus,” Andrei Sannikov told charter97.org.