Andrei Sannikov: There Are Many More Levers To Release Ales Bialiatski

The challenges of the Lukashenka and Putin regimes must be responded with symmetrical actions.

On May 3, the court of the Leninski district of Minsk passed sentences on members of the Viasnabhuman rights movement. The leader of the movement Ales Bialiatski was sentenced to 10 years in prison, his associates Valiantsin Stefanovich, Dzmitry Salauyou and Uladzimir Labkovich — to nine, eight and seven years, respectively. Herein, Salauyou is currently outside Belarus.

Coordinator of the European Belarus civil campaign, former Deputy Foreign Minister of Belarus Andrei Sannikov commented to Voice of America on the verdict against well-known human rights activists.

Andrei Sannikov called the outcome of this process expected, and the criminal case against Ales Bialiatski and his associates was fabricated. He also noted that this is the first trial in history when a successful Nobel laureate was tried.

“Some received bonuses while already in custody after the verdict, while Bialiatski was under investigation. This did not stop the court, and everything went according to the meanest scenario. Moreover, the vile physiognomy of this regime was shown to the whole world, because the Viasna men were kept in a cage and handcuffed all the time, without removing them even during the trial, which is unusual. This was done in order to humiliate people, to show their kolkhoz-style superiority, the superiority of “animals” over Homo sapiens,” Andrey Sannikov assesses the situation.

In 2011, Ales Bialiatski was already sentenced by a Belarusian court on a similar charge to seven years in prison, but under pressure from the Western public, he was released three years later.

In this regard, the Voice of America correspondent asked the coordinator of the European Belarus civil campaign how he assesses the level of international solidarity with Belarusian political prisoners today? And does he have the feeling that the war in Ukraine has led to the fact that Belarus is perceived only as an accomplice in Russian aggression?

Andrei Sannikov agrees that now in the West there is a lot of talk about war crimes committed in Ukraine by both the Putin regime and Lukashenka regime, and adds that for some reason the crimes against humanity that the Lukashenka regime committed in 2020 against the Belarusian people and continues to do so to this day, moved to the background.

“If we take Bialiatski separately, then the situation here is very strange, because, in my opinion, the international community, starting with the Nobel Committee, could do much more to release Ales Bialiatski and all other political prisoners. They awarded the Nobel Prize — and that's all: it's your move now, do whatever you want! Human rights activists, civil society, the international community are protesting, but international institutions believe that the award has been awarded, and the mission has been completed,” continues the interlocutor of the Voice of America.

Sannikov claims that there is not a single criminal case in the West related to those who support Lukashenka's regime with money.

“All the levers that could be involved, for some reason, remain outside the sphere of interest and attention of the Western world. After all, there are laws and a judicial system in place, and it would be possible to respond with symmetrical actions to the challenges that the regimes of Lukashenka and Putin pose to the world community,” Andrei Sannikov is convinced.