English

Khalip permitted to meet with Sannikaw

Journalist Iryna Khalip has been permitted to meet her husband, former presidential candidate Andrey Sannikaw, who was sentenced to five years in prison on May 14 in connection with a post-election demonstration staged in Minsk on December 19, 2010.

Ms. Khalip, who was given Monday a suspended two-year prison sentence with two years’ probation in connection with the demonstration, told BelaPAN that she and her mother visited on Tuesday morning the Partyzanski District Court where her husband had been tried to file an application for the meeting. “We were given the permit at once,” she said. “The mother-in-law will go to the detention center the next morning to deliver a parcel and I will go there with her.”

Ms. Khalip said that it was not yet known where Mr. Sannikaw would serve the prison term.

When asked to comment on her plans for journalistic activities, Ms. Khalip, who works for the Russian newspaper Narodnaya Gazeta, said that she met with Editor-in-Chief Dmitry Muratov earlier in the day.

“He came to Minsk to meet with me and discuss my further activities,” Ms. Khalip said. “My key priority is to remain here with Danya [her four-year-old son] and not to be put in prison. I don’t want them to place him in an orphanage. So, we now discuss subjects for me to cover here.” //BelaPAN