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Support political activist locked up in Belarus

commoner | 22.03.2006 14:22 | Repression | Social Struggles | World

Enira, a girl who is about 25, has been held in custody in the KGB detention facility of Minsk since February 21th, 2006. Her crime? She simply wanted to have independent elections in Belarus. Yes, this is a crime in Belarus.

LEGAL CHARGES She was charged for being a member of an unregistered (illegal) association ("Partnership"). This is considered a crime in Belarus since December 2005, since the criminal code was amended to restrict freedom of speech and of association. She might stay in jail for years...

The state refused to register this association, since the association aims at monitoring free and fair elections in Belarus. Against the interest of Lukashenko.

In some information about her case, she is said to have been accused of arousing violent public unrest in order to defeat the president Lukashenko at the presidential elections. Close to terrorism. Ridiculous. Falsehood to hide an arrest under criminal law motivated by sheer political reasons.

POLITICAL SITUATION IN BELARUS Lukashenko hastened the presidential elections because of the growing popularity of Milinkevich, the most popular opposition leader. The election will be held next Sunday. Lukashenko also had a law passed allowing him to order the police to shoot at demonstrators.

HOW TO HELP We can try do something: signing up for the internet petition. It is easy, you just have to ask Pavel, pavel.mor@gmail.com OR Pavel@3dway.org, who is organizing public support for her and others detainees, to add your name to the list of the petition for Enira.

You can find the text of the petition (English version at the bottom) at:http://www.3dway.org/articles/2/3/1860 you can also find there her picture (the 1st one).

WHAT HAS BEEN DONE SO FAR We have been contacting Amnesty International in different countries and are waiting for an official public appeal with the Amnesty stamp and the recognition by Amnesty that she is a political prisoner. We are considering public gatherings in front of the Belarusian embassy on Sunday (in different places, to be confirmed), after having tried to make an appointment with the ambassador.

Please sign the petition, even though you don't know this person. The same tragic story could have happened to us, had we not been born in a more democratic country.

You can check this information at:www.charter97.org, http://www.spring96.org/

commoner

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