The Belarusian Christian Democracy Party demands to release and rehabilitate all political prisoners!
The National Council of the Belarusian Christian Democracy Party met on 17 September 2011 in Minsk. Among other decisions the delegates adopted the statement demanding to release and rehabilitate all political prisoners without exception.
Statement of the BCD National Council:
“We, the Belarusian Christian Democrats, welcome the recent release of several political prisoners and demand the immediate release of all those who still remain in prison, in the first place: Pavel Seviarynets, Ales Bialiatski, Mikalai Autukhovich, Andrei Sannikau, Dzimtry Bandarenka, Dzmitry Us, Mikalai Statkevich, Dzmitry Dashkevich, Eduard Lobau.
At the same time we claim that it is not enough just to release the political prisoners. We insist that full rehabilitation of all those imprisoned for political reasons is mandatory.
We, the Belarusian Christian Democrats, support exclusively non-violent methods of struggle and condemn any attempts of violence in society. However, we also consider politically motivated verdicts as inadmissible violation of the principle of equality of all citizens before the law.
We believe that the sentence of Yauhen Vaskovich was politically motivated. The sentence, which has been imposed, is too rigid and does not correspond to the actions committed by Yauhen. We believe that the term, which Yauhen Vaskovich has already served in custody, is a sufficient punishment for what he did.
In addition, the administration of the colony constantly violates the rights of Yauhen, in particular, the right to freedom of conscience.
We demand from the administration of the colony to stop bullying and inappropriate attitudes towards Yauhen. We demand to reconsider the sentence of Yauhen Vaskovich!
We also claim that the sentences to Ihar Alinevich, Aliaksandr Frantskevich, Mikalaj Dziadok, Artsiom Prakapenka and Pavel Syramalotau must be reviewed as to their legality and correspondence to the performed actions.
We appeal to human rights organizations, political parties and the international community to support this call and to defend Yauhen Vaskovich and other political prisoners.”
