Andrei Sannikov: This is the next dirty game of the authorities

The presidential candidate has phoned for the first time from Novopolotsk prison.

The presidential candidate has phoned for the first time from Novopolotsk prison.

The conversation of Andrei Sannikov with his wife Irina Khalip lasted only 10 minutes. In that short time the leader of the civil campaign “European Belarus”, who was sentenced to 5 years in a strict regime prison, managed to ask about his son and assessed the latest developments in Belarus, with the release of nine participants in the events of 19 December, who had written a request for clemency.

“The conversation mainly touched upon on our son and my trip to the colony next week. I hope that I will get to meet Andrei for a short meeting. My husband said that he has already been transferred to a unit. He is in the 3rd unit. Now everyone can write him letters. Andrei did not complain about anything. The attitude of the prisoners, he said, was good; they call him President,” Irina Khalip told the site charter97.org.

Upon learning of the release of nine prisoners from the affair of 19 December, Andrei Sannikov asked whether their names were known.

“When I said that only four names were known, he said: ‘I knew that this is the next dirty game.’ No-one has approached him and suggested that he should write petitions for clemency, but Andrei stressed that even if they were to come, it would be a waste of time, since he has no intention of writing any petition. Andrei asked me to pass on his words of support for those who have been released from prison”, said the wife of the political prisoner.

The address for letters: 211445, Vitebsk Region, Novopolotsk-5, IK-10, 3rd Unit, Sannikov A.O.