Famous Belarusians Sign Open Letter To Support Yemialyanau, Komar

Many are outraged by the unfair sentence imposed on the political prisoners.

Dozens of Belarusian journalists, artists, photographers, cultural workers and bloggers signed an open letter expressing their disagreement with the recent sentence imposed on Mikita Yemialyanau and Ivan Komar, Radio Svaboda reports.

In autumn of 2019, Mikita Yemialyanau threw a light bulb filled with red paint into the building of the Minsk City Court. Later, he threw the Molotov cocktail twice at the door of the temporary detention center in the Valadarski Street in Minsk. Ivan Komar at that moment was in a neighboring public garden.

The youngsters say they did this in protest against the persecution of political prisoners.

On February 12, Mikita Yemialyanau and Ivan Komar were found in the alleged “damaging a building, making a potentially dangerous device, causing harm to a building, and attempting to commit the same crime”. Both were sentenced to 7 years of imprisonment in a penal colony. The damage caused to the detention center building was estimated at 1 ruble 48 kapeykas. The damage of BYN 143, inflicted on the building of the Minsk City Court, was compensated by Mikita Yemialyanau earlier.

The signatories of the letter draw attention to the fact that the court did not verify Komar’s statements about coercion to testify, about ill-treatment and the threat of torture, and that Yemialyanau’s right not to incriminate himself, or to get help from a lawyer, was violated.

“We believe that Mikita Yemialyanau and Ivan Komar were sentenced to an excessively harsh punishment, which is clearly disproportionate to the deed,” the letter said. Signatories demand an immediate review of the sentence while retaining the right to a fair trial.

One of the initiators of the letter, journalist Yauhenia Douhaya, explained that she saw on social networks a lot of indignation at the sentence from fellow journalists, as well as artists and writers. “It seems to me that this is very important - when finally the media community solidifies and shows that it does not agree with the unjust sentence.”

Yauhenia Douhaya noted that the lawyers will be able to attach this letter to the materials when appealing the sentence: “And I am pleased that Belarusians are signing it.”