Belarus: Dmitry Bondarenko freed!

Dmitry Bondarenko, leader of the civic campaign “European Belarus” and authorized representative of Presidential candidate in 2010, Andrei Sannikov, has been released from prison. This comes a day after the release of Andrei Sannikov.

Mr Bondarenko was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment for taking part in a peaceful protest on 19 December 2010 over presidential elections  which the international community has condemned as seriously flawed. He was being held in Colony No. 15 in the city of Mohylev and there had been grave concern about his state of health.

Largely for health reasons, both Andrei Sannikov and Dmitry Bondarenko made formal requests to Lukashenko to be pardoned. 

There are a large number of political prisoners in Belarus, some of whom have already stated that they will not ask for any pardon.

Photos and news of the release from Charter 97