U.S. Embassy Press Statement on Sentencing of Statkevich And Severinets :: Charter'97 :: News

The Embassy of the United States of America expresses its grave concern over the May 31 conviction and sentencing of Nikolay Statkevich and Pavel Severinets to three years of restricted freedom and corrective labor. Both individuals were already convicted and served jail terms for their participation in the protests which followed last October`s deeply flawed election and referendum.

Convicting Statkevich and Severinets a second time for exercising their internationally acknowledged rights of expression and assembly is a travesty of justice and a clear abuse of the courts for political purposes. The United States calls on Belarusian authorities to immediately release Severinets and Statkevich and to halt the civil and criminal persecution of members of independent civil society.

The United States of America further calls on Belarusian authorities to halt the practice of arresting and confining political prisoners, and to release Mikhail Marinich, Valeriy Levonevsky, Aleksandr Vasilyev, Sergey Skrebets, and Andrey Klimov, all jailed for their political beliefs and activities.