16/11/2011 Political Affairs and Democracy
PACE rapporteur for Belarus, Andres Herkel (Estonia, EPP/CD), today expressed deep concern about the situation of Andrei Sannikov, former Presidential candidate, who has reportedly disappeared from a Belarusian penitentiary.
On 14 May 2011, the Pershamaiski District Court of Minsk sentenced Mr Sannikov to five years in a medium security penal colony. No information on his whereabouts and the circumstances of his disappearance was given to the family or to his lawyers.
"I receive regular reports on mistreatment and torture of prisoners and I therefore urge the Belarusian authorities to promptly inform the family and the lawyers of Mr Sannikov about his whereabouts and to grant access to him," Mr Herkel stressed.