Uladzimir Kondrus Acknowledged Political Prisoner

Human rights defenders have acknowledged criminal persecution of Uladzimir Kondrus, who is accused of participation in the protest actions on December 19, 2010, politically motivated.

Human rights defenders underline that the demonstration on December 19, 2010 had a peaceful character, while “committing of the actions of illegal character by certain citizens should have been timely stopped by the law enforcement agencies and in any case can not be characterized as mass riots.”

That is why, the statement says, the actions of Uladzimir Kondrus cannot be qualified under Article 293 of the Criminal Code (mass riots), and the period of limitation with regard to other articles, under which the said actions could have been qualified, expired long ago, Radio Svaboda reports.

“In connection with the above, we state herewith that we consider criminal persecution of Uladzimir Kondrus politically motivated, and acknowledge Uladzimir Kondrus political prisoner,” – human rights defenders claim.

It is also pointed out in the statement that the very fact of criminal persecution under the still pending criminal case on the events that happened on December 19, 2010, “sets up the danger of arrest for other participants of those events, who might still be on the wanted list”.

Human rights defenders urge not only to stop criminal persecution of Uladzimir Kondrus, but to fully dismiss the criminal case on the December 19 events.

The statement has been signed by the Human Rights Center “Viasna”, the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, the Center of Legal Transformation, the Belarusian Human Rights House, the Belarusian Documentary Center and the Committee for Protection of the Repressed “Solidarity”.

Inhabitant of the Rudzensk settlement Uladzimir Kondrus was put under guard in the pre-trial detention center #1 of the Interior Ministry on June 14, 2016. He is charged under Part 2 Article 293 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus (mass riots).

The parents of 39-year-old Uladzimir Kondrus first visited their son in the pre-trial detention center #1 in Minsk on August 9. They reported that he was very ill - he had a stomach ulcer, and he was getting no medical care. Due to the health status, Uladzimir Kondrus handled only a few minutes of the first authorized meeting.

“Our son is half-dead, they delivered him to the meeting room in a stretcher. He only endured five minutes of talking. He seems totally exhausted. He was speaking very mumblingly. It seems he is in a some sort of a fog, he has problems with understanding, his eyes look half-empty,” – the prisoner’s father has said.

At present moment, apart from Uladzimir Kondrus, human rights defenders also acknowledge their colleague Mikhail Zhamchuzhny political prisoner. There has been no final decision with regard to two other persons due to the lack of information, but HR defenders do not exclude there is political bias in their persecution. They are blogger Eduard Palchys and participant of the cyclists’ action “Critical Mass” Dzmitry Paliyenka.