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Laima Andrikienė, Vice President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Member of the Lithuanian Parliament: False charges against Belarusian human rights defender Leonid Sudalenko should be dropped and he should be released without delay

Press release, Vilnius, 3 September 2021

 

A trial against Belarusian human rights defender Leonid Sudalenko and two of his assistants Tatjana Lasitsa and Maria Tarasenko has started in Gomel today. Laima Andrikienė, Vice President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and Member of the Lithuanian Parliament announced that she will be following the case of Leonid Sudalenko closely and will report to PACE and its Bureau the details of this trial.

 

“I decided to take patronage of Leonid Sudalenko, father of four sons (the youngest is 11 years old), lawyer and prominent human rights defender from Gomel, Head of Gomel branch of Human Rights Centre “Viasna”, whos merits were recognised far beyond borders of Belarus: Leonid Sudalenko became a laureate of the award “Freedom, equality, fraternity” of the French Republic in 2018. He has dedicated a lot of time and efforts fighting for the abolition of the death penalty in Belarus”, pointed out Ms Andrikienė.

 

“The trial which started in Gomel today is closed to the public. As a rule, it means that charges are false and evidence collected by the prosecutors is very weak. Since October 2015 Mr Sudalenko and his family were under intense pressure, including several death threats. Regime in Minsk was trying to prevent L. Sudalenko from acting as human rights defender who was helping his compatriots in preparing appeals to the UN Human Rights Committee”, said Laima Andrikienė.

 

According to Laima Andrikiene, attacks against human rights defenders and their family members in general and Leonid Sudalenko in particular, related to their peaceful activities, are unacceptable, while the case of Leonid Sudalenko is another prove of brutal violations of human rights in Belarus under Lukashenka, which cannot be ignored. “I stand behind Leonid Sudalenko and his sons, and I will take all possible actions at PACE and other international institutions to free him”, stated Laima Andrikienė MP.

 

 

More information:

Aldona Drėgvaitė

Adviser to Laima Andrikienė MP

[email protected]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Last updated on 09/06/2021 09:15
   Monika Kutkaitytė