Andrei Sharenda: Lukashenka Is Killing Mother Of Two Children In Prison

• 20.10.2024, 8:59

The dictator takes revenge on the activist of the European Belarus Civil Campaign.

Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk, an activist of the European Belarus Civil Campaign, was added one more year in prison. The husband of a Belarusian political prisoner believes that they are gradually killing the woman in prison. He asks international organizations to help in her release, Deutsche Welle reports.

The last trial of Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk was held on October 15, 2024 in Rechytsa, the Homel region of Belarus. The activist from Brest was added one more year and one day in prison. She was tried for the third time for "malicious disobedience to the requirements of the administration of the correctional institution" (Art. 411 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus). "It is now clear that the sentence term for Palina has become simply endless," says the husband of the political prisoner Andrei Sharenda.

In June 2021, Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk was sentenced to two years in a general regime prison for "violence" against police officers (Art. 364 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus), as well as for "insulting" Aliaksandr Lukashenka (Art. 368 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus) and representatives of the authorities (Art 369 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus). In April 2022, the political prisoner was sentenced to another year under Part 1 of Art. 411 of the Criminal Code, in October 2023, the year of imprisonment under the same article was again added.

During the trial, Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk stated that other prisoners was beating her in the prison #24 at the instigation of the prison administration and also spoke about the harsh conditions of detention. In the spring of 2024, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women called on Belarus to take urgent measures to protect Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk. After that, the Belarus 1 state television channel showed an interview with her, filmed in the prison. Andrei Sharenda notes that almost simultaneously a new criminal case was opened against Palina, the verdict was announced this week.

Six "difficult stages" over four months

“It was a very nervous trial, first of all, for Palina. The alleged Palina's violations when serving last year's sentence were far-fetched and did not correspond to reality. Palina immediately said everything she thought about it," says Andrei Sharenda. According to him, the whole process lasted several hours, all motions to call additional witnesses or to watch the video were rejected. Palina was "depressed" at the trial.

Andrei notes that she has had “six long hard stages” over the past four months During such movements, political prisoners with the so-called "extremist" status cannot be taken out into the fresh air, and they are kept in handcuffs all the time. From the Zarechcha prison, not far from Homel, Palina was transferred to the Homel pre-trial detention center, then to the temporary detention center in the city of Rechytsa. There, the woman was placed in a cell with no bed linen, mattresses, or even a washbasin. "She had to sleep on the floor for several weeks, there was no heating," the source says. Now Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk is waiting for an appeal in Homel detention center #3. The husband of the political prisoner assumes that the next trial will take place within the next month.

Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk got confirmed pancreatitis

Andrei is sure that the imprisonment is slowly killing his wife. About six months ago, relatives learned that Palina had been diagnosed with moderate chronic pancreatitis in the prison. People with this disease need to adhere to a diet and be under the supervision of doctors, which is impossible in the conclusion: "For several months we tried to learn about Palina's health, but received some replies that Palina is undergoing all the necessary treatment, and there is no need for additional medications."

Meanwhile, the family learned from the relatives of the prisoners who were serving their sentences with Palina that the she was very unwell, "complaining of severe pains over her belly, she also felt it in her back." According to Andrei, the disease progresses and destroys Palina's body, her release is a matter of her life or death. "I ask international, humanitarian, human rights organizations to pay attention to the Palina's state of health. It's just hard, unbearable to see the mother of two children killed in prison, "the husband of a political prisoner calls.

Does Lukashenka continue to take revenge?

When asked by DW why, in his opinion, Palina was not released after an interview with the state television channel, Andrei Sharenda says that the Lukashenka regime "repeatedly deceived, and in this case also deceived." At the time of the interview, the her notes, Palina was incommunicado for almost six months, she did not receive any news. The woman agreed to this shooting to somehow mitigate her situation and try to get out at the end of the sentence term. Sharenda believes that Aliaksandr Lukashenka continues to take revenge on people like Palina for "what happened four years ago, that the Belarusians have still not bended and continue to fight."

"Children have been growing up without a mother for four years"

Andrei fears that the current sentence term is "not the last" for Palina. According to him, it is especially difficult that he cannot tell his sons when they will be able to see their mother. "The youngest son has already made some plans where we will go with his mother, he asks every day when," the man says. "The eldest son also takes the situation with Palina very hard. He is already an adult, he reads the news himself, analyzes himself as he can. This made him withdrawn. (..) For four years the children have been growing up without their mother, for four years they have not seen her live, have not heard her voice."

He also adds that today "hundreds of children in Belarus are waiting for their parents," and this is a real tragedy of modern history. Sharenda believes that the problem of Belarusian political prisoners against the background of another agenda has faded into the background, and also that Western countries are not actually taking any steps to release them. "From the place where Palina is tortured, destroyed, to the EU border only a few hundred, and maybe tens of kilometers. I do not understand this, it needs to be corrected, all Belarusian political prisoners should be released," says Andrei Sharenda.