Estonia’s MFA Asked To Influence Belarusian Authorities In ‘White Legion’ Case

The Belarusian activists forwarded a letter to the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Estonia on the eve of his visit to Belarus.

Civil activists from Latvia, Estonia and Belarus appealed to the Foreign Minister of Estonia Sven Mikser on the eve of his working visit to Belarus with a request to influence the Belarusian authorities.

Delfi published the full text of the letter:

Open letter to the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Estonia

Dear Mr. Minister Sven Mikser,

According to the publicly available information of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry as of May 23, 2017, you will have a visit to Belarus, within the framework of which you will meet with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus Uladzimir Makei.

We would like to draw your attention to the criminal case against the Belarusian democratic activists, labelled in the Belarusian independent press as the "patriots' case." This criminal case has been started against former members of the now defunct patriotic organization "White Legion", active members of the state-registered military sports club "Patriot" and social activists.

This case was fabricated by the Belarusian KGB in order to solve a number of problems of Lukashenka's regime in domestic politics and international relations. In particular, this case was created to solve the following issues:

- improving relations with the Russian Federation by intimidating Moscow with virtual militants and the possibility of mass riots that will lead to the displacement of Aliaksandr Lukashenka and the refusal on the part of Belarus from the pro-Russian vector of the development of international relations;

- creating an atmosphere of fear of protests actions caused by the impoverishment of the population and the wrong economic policy of the state (tax collection for no job for the unemployed);

- intimidation of the Belarusian civil society and opposition activists.

You will have a conversation with Minister Uladzimir Makei, who has always been the most pro-European member of the Belarusian government. Please raise the issue of the "White Legion" in this conversation. We believe that Uladzimir Makei will be able to convey to Aliaksandr Lukashenka that for him personally and for Belarus, from the European perspective, it is better to avoid fabricating this case and to guarantee its participants an honest and open trial. It is important that this trial is recognized by honest and open international human rights organizations.

19 people, associated with the “White Legion” case, are held in custody in the Belarusian prison. They remain under enormous pressure. According to the latest information from Belarus, investigators use methods in the style of the NKVD to obtain "correct" answers to their questions.

These people need urgent assistance and support from democratic Estonia and the European Union.

Please help them!

Baltic civil initiative "Freedom for the White Legion!"

Andrei Obozov - an Estonian civil activist, political refugee from Belarus, co-founder of the NGO Valgevene Uus Tee

Andrei Berdnikov - Latvian civil activist and researcher

Siarhei Bulba - Belarusian civil activist and ex-leader of the “White Legion”

Pavel Morozov - Estonian civil activist, political refugee from Belarus, co-founder of the ARU TV