English

Sannikaw's wife pessimistic about release of political prisoners

Iryna Khalip, wife of former presidential candidate Andrey Sannikaw, said that she did not expect political prisoners to be released soon.

While speaking to reporters in Minsk on Friday, the journalist said that "no one wants to release anyone and is not going to." "Why are they putting pressure, why are they trying to bring them on their knees and write this phrase, 'I ask to be released'? This is very simple. If hooligans burglarize your home, they can defecate in the middle of your room after they take out all property. The same conduct is here. They say 'now that we have imprisoned them, let's force them to write appeals for a pardon and not grant them afterward'," she said.

Ms. Khalip has not had any contact with Mr. Sannikaw since receiving a terse letter from him following his transfer to the Vitsba 3 correctional institution. "The latest news that I know is that Andrey has repeatedly applied for a transfer to the regular unit, but they are keeping him in a cell-type room. Moreover, it is not local personnel who guard him but some people who have arrived for this purpose, just as was the case in Babruysk. He is in complete isolation, complete vacuum. As far as I know, he doesn't even receive the newspapers which I have subscribed him to," she said.

The letter said nothing about Mr. Sannikaw's health. "But there are some reports that someone saw him being led to the prison's medical unit," she said.