Uladzimir Labkovich: Authorities take Dashkevich hostage

Police supervision over Zmitser Dashkevich is politically motivated and illegal.

Uladzimir Labkovich, a member of the Council of Viasna human rights centre, spoke to charter97.org about the police supervision over Zmitser Dashkevich after his release from the Hrodna prison.

“Viasna human rights centre describes the state of human rights in Belarus as very bad and thinks the human rights situation continues to deteriorate. We welcome the release of Zmitser Dashkevich and wish him all the best. But the very fact of his release cannot be regarded as liberalisation. The Belarusian regime has not demonstrated its good will. He [Dashkevich] just served his sentence,” the lawyer said.

He added that Belarusian human rights activists call on their international partners not to regard the release of Dashkevich as an improvement of the situation.

“We have the same opinion on the expected release of Aliaksandr Frantskevich and Pavel Seviarynets. Time shows that suspending sanctions on Makei was not a well-weighted decision of the European Union, because there are no improvements and they are unlikely to happen. We consider the sentence to Zmitser Dashkevich to be illegal and politically motivated and we regard the police supervision over him in the same way. It is a part of political persecution for his political activity. He is undoubtedly under the threat of criminal prosecution as it happened to Uladzimir Yaromenak and Vasily Parfiankou. The police supervision is a very easy and convenient tool to control political prisoners. Zmitser Dashkevich is in fact a hostage who can face criminal prosecution again,” the human rights activist said.

Political prisoner Zmitser Dashkevich was released from the Hrodna prison at 6:30 today. He will be under police supervision for the nearest six months. He cannot leave his home from 20:00 till 6:00.