The Whole Truth About Belarusian Political Prisoners Was Revealed To Brussels

It is essential to rescue Belarusian prisoners of conscience immediately.

Relatives of Belarusian prisoners of conscience arrived in Brussels on a visit. The reason for the visit was the unprecedented pressure on political prisoners in Belarusian prisons. There has been no information about the leader of the Belarusian opposition Mikalai Statkevich for almost half a year. Also, Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk, an activist of the European Belarus Civil Campaign, is being tortured in prison.

Natallia Radzina, the Editor-in-Chief of Charter97.org, Maryna Adamovich, the wife of Mikalai Statkevich, and Andrei Sharenda, the husband of Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk, held a number of bilateral meetings with MEPs and EU diplomats in Brussels.

Brussels was represented at the meetings by Vice-Presidents of the European Parliament Katarina Barley, Nicola Beer, Othmar Karas, Heidi Hautala, Chair of the European Parliament's Delegation for Relations with Belarus Juozas Olekas, European Parliament's Standing Rapporteur For Belarus Petras Auštrevičius, Vice-Chair of the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs Witold Waszczykowski, Chair of the Delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly Andrius Kubilius, Vice-President of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group Anna Fotyga, MEP Isabel Santos, the "godparent" of political prisoner Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk, MEPs Miriam Lexmann, Viola von Cramon-Taubadel, Andrzej Halicki, Head of the Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia & Azerbaijan Division of the European External Action Service Dorota Dlouhi-Suliga, Diplomatic Adviser to the President of the European Parliament Tatiana Mrazhikova.

Andrei Sharenda spoke about how his wife is subjected to continuous torture in Lukashenka's dungeons. In her last letter, political prisoner Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk actually said goodbye to her two children: 7 and 14-year-old sons. Palina has spent more than 200 days in a punishment cell in the past 10 months, not to mention previous tortures: a semi-basement without heating, running water and a bathroom. A graduate of the University of Warsaw, a scholarship holder of the prestigious Kirkland Postgraduate Program, is kept in the same colony with recidivist murderers. Political prisoner Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk went through beatings and punitive psychiatry. Palina's body will soon not withstand all this. “I believe that there is a political order to kill Palina,” Andrei Sharenda said and called on the EU to seek her release.

Maryna Adamovich said that for more than 160 days there has been no information about the leader of the Belarusian opposition, prisoner of conscience Mikalai Statkevich. He has spent more than 10 years in prison since 1994 when Lukashenka came to power. Mikalai Statkevich was arrested again on the eve of the 2020 presidential election and sentenced to 14 years in a maximum security prison. Mikalai Statkevich has been held in solitary confinement for more than three years, and there have been no letters from him for the last six months. Meetings with relatives and a lawyer are prohibited for him. There are serious concerns about his physical condition, the politician suffers from heart problems.

Editor-in-Chief of Charter97.org Natallia Radzina noted that a humanitarian disaster is happening right now in Belarus. Five political prisoners have died in custody in the last year alone. But the true number of deaths could be higher. Human rights activists do not really know the names of a huge number of political prisoners. According to various estimates, there are from 5,000 to 10,000 prisoners of conscience in Belarusian prisons today. They are killing people in prisons with the absence of medical care and necessary medicines, people are subjected to pressure and torture. Editor-in-Chief of Charter97.org urged European politicians to prioritize the cases of Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk, Mikalai Statkevich, Viktoryia Kulsha, Alena Lazarchyk, Ales Bialiatski, Mikalai Autukhovich, Andrei Voynich, Pavel Kuchynski, Pavel Seviarynets, Uladzimir Hundar, Volha Zalatar, Halina Dzerbysh, Kseniya Lutskina, Yauhen Afnahel, Maksim Viniarski, Ihar Alinevich, Henadz Fiadynich, Aliaksandr Frantskevich and others.

Natallia Radzina called for increased pressure on Lukashenka's dictatorial regime: to impose new sanctions, to ensure compliance with existing ones, to apply article 33 of the ILO Constitution, which implies a trade embargo against the regime. It was the lack of sufficient sanctions against the regime that led to the catastrophic deterioration of the situation with political prisoners.

MEPs and EU diplomats promised support for Belarusian political prisoners, followed by statements demanding information about political prisoners, providing them with medical care and releasing them. It was also stated that until all political prisoners are released in Belarus, there can be no talk of lifting sanctions from the regime.