Iryna Khalip: Andrei Sannikov’s life is at stake

Iryna Khalip, wife of the former Belarusian presidential candidate Andrei Sannikov held a press conference on Wednesday after being allowed to see her husband in the penal colony for the first time in 3 months.

She said that she was appalled at how drained he looked, like a person who had endured 10 years of Stalin’s labour camps in the three months.

He could not tell her anything specific, she says, adding that he had obviously been prohibited from doing so. He said only that his serving of the sentence had ended in September and from then on torture had begun. Since that time, as reported, he has been transferred a number of times.

They also threatened that Ms Khalip and their four-year-old son would be murdered.

She says that while he’s prepared to die himself, he could not allow any harm to come to her and Danik, their son, hence in November he addressed an appeal to Lukashenko.

She asks journalists to think about why Lukashenko haven’t received such a trophy did not flourish it about, and says that it demonstrates that the dictator’s real aim is to make sure that Andrei Sannikov does not leave prison alive.

His real aim is to destroy his opponents. That is why Nikolai Statkevich was imprisoned far from any witnesses, and Dmitry Bondarenko, who is ill, is not released.

In parting Andrei pressed a note to the glass which read that this was a matter of life or death, that he could be killed at any time.