Freedom for Dmitrii Bondarenko! (Photo)

Activists of "European Belarus" hung out a banner in Minsk today with a demand to release the coordinator of the civil campaign "European Belarus", Dmitrii Bondarenko.

The banner appeared in “Uruchye” district on the bridge, where hundreds of Belarusians, passing by on foot or driving, saw it.

The “court” case of Dmitrii Bondarenko, the coordinator of “European Belarus” and personal aide of Andrei Sannikov, began today at 10.00 am.

During the presidential elections, Dmitrii Bondarenko was a personal aide of the presidential candidate in Belarus, Andrei Sannikov. He was arrested on the night of 19 to 20 December 2010, after a crackdown on protests against the falsified results of the presidential elections, and he was put in a KGB jail. He was charged under article 293 of the Penal Code – the organization of so-called mass disorders, for which he faces up to 15 years imprisonment.

In “Amerikanka” (the KGB prison) the politician’s state of health has deteriorated sharply. Due to illness in the joints and spine, Dmitrii Bondarenko is facing full or partial immobility, but he was not allowed to be examined by experts.

In the course of the so-called investigation, the article cited in the charge of the coordinator of “European Belarus” was changed to the “organization and preparation of activities that breach public order or active participation in them” (Article 342, Part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus). Under this false accusation, Dmitrii Bondarenko faces up to 3 years in prison.