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Activist calls for campaign of solidarity with political prisoner Zmitser Dashkevich

Opposition activist Hanna Shaputska called on Wednesday for a campaign of solidarity with political prisoner Zmitser Dashkevich, who has recently been handed down a fresh sentence and has had his prison term extended until late August 2013.

Speaking on the sidelines of a round-table conference addressing the plight of the leader of a youth opposition group called Malady Front, Ms. Shaputska acknowledged that the cases of political prisoners had not attracted a "wave of solidarity" in Belarus.

"Today we are discussing another series of events, but they can be carried out only with the help of entire society caring about the problem," she said.

Belarus' political prisoners will be freed only if "thousands and thousands of Belarusians" join a campaign for their release and if "Europe stops playing games with the dictatorial regime," Ms. Shaputska said.

Za Volyu (For Freedom), a group that campaigns for the release of political prisoners, suggests holding a series of music concerts in Belarus and abroad to attract public attention to the problem. "Another idea is recording video appeals by prominent Belarusians urging the Belarusian authorities and the European Union to secure the political prisoners' release," said Ms. Shaputska, a Za Volyu coordinator.

The activist called on the political prisoners' families and friends to take more active efforts to inform the public about their plight. She referred to the late wife and a daughter of former presidential candidate Alyaksandr Kazulin who "attended every demonstration, used every opportunity to demand his release when he was in prison."

In a closed-door trial held on August 28 in the Hlybokaye prison, the 31-year-old Dashkevich was found guilty of persistent violation of prison rules under Part One of the Criminal Code’s Article 411 and sentenced to a one-year prison term. The remaining four months of the previously imposed prison term were included in the new term.

On March 24, 2011, Mr. Dashkevich was sentenced to two years in a minimum-security correctional institution on a charge of "especially malicious hooliganism."

He was arrested in Minsk on December 18, 2010, on the eve of a scheduled large-scale post-election demonstration, for allegedly beating up two passers-by. Speaking during his trial, Mr. Dashkevich said that the incident was a provocation orchestrated by authorities and accused the two alleged victims of giving false testimony.

In September 2011, he refused an offer of freedom in exchange for asking Alyaksandr Lukashenka for a presidential pardon. //BelaPAN