Sannikov: They will not stop here

Journalist Iryna Khalip received two letters from her husband Andrei Sannikov on January 16.

"One of them has just one sentence: ‘Hug you, maybe this will pass censorship’. He writes in another letter: ‘I am in despair. I have no access to lawyers, I am completely isolated from you. But they will not stop here.’ I worry about these words. The phase ‘will not stop here’ sounds strange. It’s not clear what is happening to him", Iryna Khalip the wife of the 2010 presidential candidate told BelaPAN news agency.

According to her, Sannikov notes in a letter he cannot write fairytales for his son because he is afraid they won’t be delivered.

"He writes he sent a birthday card to his mother, but he worries if it is will be delivered and asks me to congratulate his mother on his behalf", the journalist says. "Alla marked her birthday on Saturday. The letter I’ve received today is dated January 13. It has been delivered, but the card, which was sent earlier, has not been received".

There has not been a reply to the appeal of Sannikov’s mother who asked the corrections department to allow a meeting with her son.

"We plan to file a complaint to the prosecutor’s office this week, because under law, the term for responding (15 days – BelaPAN) expired. There has not been a reaction to the suit the lawyers filed to the court of Vitsebsk over actions by the penal colony chief", Khalip says. "I understand these appeals are a vicious circle, but we cannot afford doing nothing. I will keep correspondence for the time when all law breakers will be punished, I hope".

One of Sannikov’s lawyers will visit Vitsba-3 penal colony at the end of the week to gain access to him, Iryna says.

In May 2011, the Partyzanski district court of Minsk sentenced Andrei Sannikov to five years in a medium security penal colony for organizing mass disorders on December 19, 2010. The politician arrived at a penal colony in Navapolatsk (the Vitsebsk region) in late July, but in September, he was transferred to penal colony No. 2 in Babruisk (the Mahilou region) for unknown reasons. In November, He was moved to Vitsba-3 penal colony. During the latest transfer, Sannikov’s family and lawyers did not have information where he had been moved to. No one has seen the political prisoner since November 8.