Ambassadors of Latvia, Lithuania visit Marinich in prison hospital :: Charter'97 :: News

The ambassadors of Latvia and Lithuania to Belarus, Maira Mora and Jonas Paslauskas, respectively, on April 25 visited imprisoned opposition politician Mikhail Marinich. Mr. Marinich, who resigned as Belarus` Riga-based ambassador to Latvia, Estonia, and Finland in the summer of 2001 to run against Aleksandr Lukashenko in that fall`s presidential race, is currently treated in a prison hospital in Minsk. He was transferred there from a correctional facility in Orsha on March 15, after he was reportedly diagnosed as having a transient ischemic attack.

As Mr. Paslauskas said at a news conference in the Belarusian capital, they learned that the 65-year-old Marinich was receiving the necessary medical aid in accordance with the diagnosis.
According to the Latvian embassy, Ms. Mora told Mr. Marinich that people in Latvia "remember the former ambassador and are carefully following the developments in his criminal case and the condition of his health during his imprisonment." She reportedly said that while in the position of ambassador, Mr. Marinich contributed to the development of friendly relations between Belarus and Latvia and actively promoted an open dialogue between the governments and people in the two countries.

The ambassadors informed Mr. Marinich that the Danish European Movement had declared him "Person of the Year."

For his turn, Mr. Marinich thanked the diplomats for their visit and care and asked them to convey his gratitude to "all colleagues who felt concerned for him and expressed sympathy and solidarity."

The ambassadors of Latvia and Lithuania expressed gratitude to the Belarusian foreign ministry and the administration of the prison hospital for the opportunity to visit the former diplomat. They also pointed out that together with the ambassadors of other European Union countries, they would continue to closely watch the conditions of Mr. Marinich`s confinement and devote particular attention to his case.

Mr. Marinich, Belarus` minister of external economic relations in 1994-98, was sentenced to five years in a high-security institution on December 30, 2004 after a judge of the Minsk District Court found him guilty of misappropriating office equipment that the Delovaya Initsiativa (Business Initiative) association, of which he was chairman, had received from the US embassy for temporary use. Members of the association testified at the trial that they had known that the equipment in question had been kept in the garage of Mr. Marinich`s son after authorities had ordered the association to vacate the rented premises. The United States repeatedly declared that the allegedly stolen computer equipment had at all times remained American property, and that the United States made no claims against Mr. Marinich or his association.

On February 18, a Minsk Regional Court panel reduced the prison sentence against the politician from five to 3.5 years, citing his past services to the state and deteriorated health as the reason.
On April 26, it will be one year since Mr. Marinich was taken into custody.
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