Prisoner’s Godparenthood: Manuel Sarrazin adopts Mikalai Dziadok

Manuel Sarrazin, Member of the German Bundestag and European policy spokesman for the Alliance 90/The Greens parliamentary group, has taken on a prisoner’s godparenthood for Mikalai Dziadok. Mr Sarrazin said:

“As a Member of the Bundestag, I call for the immediate and unconditional release of Mikalai Dziadok. I am extremely concerned about the unjustified application of Article 411 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus. This article – “wilful disobedience to the correctional institution administration” – is used, as in the case of Mikalai Dziadok, to legalise cruel and degrading treatment of political prisoners in Belarussian jails.”

The prisoner’s godparenthood campaign for political prisoners in Belarus was initiated by the human-rights organisation Libereco – Partnership for Human Rights, to support the prisoners and their families.

Mikalai Dziadok, a member of the Belarussian “Anarchist Group”, was sentenced on 27 May 2011 to four and a half years imprisonment in a penal colony. He has been illegally incarcerated since 3 September 2010. The sentence is based on an investigation and trial which violated several of Dziadok’s procedural and human rights, and those of the witnesses. In February 2015, Dziadok was sentenced to a further year in prison under Article 411 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus. He has since been kept in solitary confinement on several occasions under unbearable conditions.

Belarusian and international human-rights organisations view Mikalai Dziadok as a political prisoner and are calling for his immediate and unconditional release.

Together with the Belarusian Human Rights Center Viasna and the independent watchdog organization Freedom House, Libereco has launched a joint online petition to demand the release of all political prisoners, among them Mikalai Dziadok, from Belarusian president Lukashenka.