Polina Sharendo-Panasiuk Urged To Increase Pressure On Lukashenko's Regime

This will help free all prisoners of conscience.

Political prisoners in Belarus are not an internal problem of the country, but a crime against humanity, committed in the center of Europe. This was stated by former prisoner of conscience Polina Charenteau-Panasiuk during a side-event at the 61st session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on March 11. The site Charter97.org quotes the text of her speech:

- Lukashenko's regime has been usurping power for more than 30 years with the help of fear, terror and repression. But to live under a dictatorship does not mean to accept it.

- The regime's repression does not affect only one person, it affects his entire family. When a person is captured, he or she virtually disappears. There are cases where relatives go weeks, sometimes months, without knowing where their loved ones are being held. The regime persecutes not only the political prisoner, but also anyone who tries to help him.

In Belarus there is Decree #18, which allows almost any family to be declared socially endangered and children to be taken away. The same decree serves as a basis for slave labor in colonies.

Belarus has no courts. Where there should be a law, there is just a conveyor belt of reprisals. There is no independent expertise in political cases. Lawyers are intimidated, deprived of independence or simply eliminated from the process. Judges formalize decisions taken in advance.

One of the manifestations of terror against political prisoners is Article 411 (malicious disobedience of the colony administration). In practice, it means the following: a political prisoner can be tried again and again, adding a new term, and not being let out of the colony gates for a second. It was applied to me three times. I want to call on experts and the world community to put pressure on Lukashenka's regime to abolish this article. There are no analogues of the article, which allows prolonging imprisonment indefinitely, in the civilized world.

We should demand immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners and their full legal rehabilitation.

Political prisoners in Belarus are not an internal problem of the country, but a crime against humanity, committed in the center of Europe in the 21st century. If the world really wants to help the Belarusian political prisoners, one should not limit oneself to expressing sympathy, but should act. The pressure on the regime should be intensified until all hostages are released.

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