Czech and Slovakian Ambassadors were not allowed to visit Mikhail Marynich :: Charter'97 :: News

The Interior Affairs Ministry has not allowed Ambassadors of the Czech Republic and Slovakia in Belarus to meet Belarusian political prisoner Mikhail Marynich, who is serving the term in Minsk colony, Radio Svaboda informs. The Embassy of the Czech Republic in Belarus confirmed that the penal jurisdiction department of the Interior Ministry of Belarus sent a written refusal, but denied to comment on the text of the letter. The answer of the Slovakian Embassy was the same.

Uladzimir Kouchur, head of the penal jurisdiction department of the Interior Ministry of Belarus explained that the main reason for refusal to the Ambassadors is that Mikhail Marynich does not have Czech or Slovakian citizenship. But there is another reason, he said:

“It was possible earlier, but not every week. Now French Ambassador Stephane Chmelewsky, who is to represent the EU in Belarus for half a year, asks a permission to visit Marynich. They are visiting him incessantly. Now they have been refused, and later they would be allowed, I don’t see any problem here. And moreover, Marynich is in the hospital now,” the official said.

As said by him, Maryncih is to have a course of treatment in the hospital. He feels better. However Marynich’s sons are worried by the state of health of their father. The lawyer has not been allowed to visit Marynich in the prison hospital for a week.

Mikhail Marynich was found guilty of embezzlement of the property of the NGO “Delovaya Initsiativa” headed by him. He had never pleaded guilty. He explained the persecution by political reasons, and in particular, by the fact that he had joined opposition and planned to run in the presidential elections. The “Amnesty International” recognized Mikhail Marynich a prisoner of conscience.
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