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Iryna Khalip receives letter of support from wife of Polish president

Iryna Khalip, wife of former presidential candidate Andrey Sannikaw, has received a letter of support from the wife of the Polish president.

“The letter, sent through diplomatic channels, arrived at the Polish embassy in Minsk last week,” the wife of the imprisoned opposition politician told BelaPAN. “On the evening of December 2, Polish Ambassador Leszek Szerepka invited me to the embassy where he handed over the letter to me."

Ms. Khalip described the letter, in which Anna Komorowska recalls Poland`s Solidarity movement of the 1980s, as very touching. “In those difficult times, our families saw people arrested, imprisoned and interned during the period of martial law. Regretfully, Belarusian families are now in a similar plight.”

Ms. Komorowska says that Poland will continue to push for the release of all political prisoners in Belarus.

“I have seen once again that the political prisoners have not been forgotten. The struggle continues,” said Ms. Khalip.

When asked about her husband who was transferred to the Vitsba 3 correctional facility in Vitsyebsk in late November, the woman said that she had had no news of him since his transfer. “The period of his detention in quarantine was to expire yesterday. I will meet with the lawyer later in the day to discuss when he will go to the prison,” Ms. Khalip noted.

On July 15, a three-judge panel of the Minsk City Court upheld his prison sentence.

On September 20, Mr. Sannikaw was transferred from a prison in Navapolatsk to Correctional Institution No.2 in Babruysk. He was removed from the prison in mid-November, held for a few days in Correctional Institution No. 4 in Mahilyow and then brought to the Vitsba 3 prison.

According to the central election commission, Mr. Sannikaw was the runner-up in the December 14-19 election with 2.43 percent of the vote.