Poland calls for release of all Belarusian political prisoners

Andrei Sannikov greeted by family after release: photo - EPA/Tatyana Zenkovich

The Polish Foreign Ministry has released a statement expressing “satisfaction" with the release of Sannikov - who was sentenced in May last year to five years imprisonment after he took part in protests following allegedly rigged presidential elections in December 2010 - and renewed its call for the immediate release of all political prisoners in Belarus.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) welcomes the fact that Andrei Sannikov, a prisoner of conscience and a candidate for the President of the Republic of Belarus, was released from prison [...] after serving 1.5 years,” the ministry statement says.

“The MFA repeats its call for the immediate release of all the remaining political prisoners in Belarus,” the statement continues.

Sannikov was released as a gesture of “leniency” by the Lukashenko regime, the government in Minsk said.

Andrei Sannikov, who stood as a candidate in the 2010 elections, was greeted at Minsk's main train station after his release yesterday by a group of supporters holding white and red flowers, the traditional colours of the Belarusian flag.

Opposition activists greeted the former presidential candidate with applause and shouts of "Long live Belarus!".

Andrei Sannikov said that "now everyone should fight for the freedom of other political prisoners, as this is most important."

Another opposition activist, Zmister Bandarenka, was realeased on Sunday, although other leading activists such as Nikolai Statkevich remain in 'penal colonies' which are sited outside the capital of Minsk.

A tit-for-tat expulsion of diplomatic staff between Belarus and Poland and the EU followed renewed sanctions being taken out against the regime of Aleksander Lukashenko last month, over what is regarded as a his deteriorating human rights record. (pg/jb)