Alexander Lukashenko is the longest-serving European leader, having been the president of Belarus since 1994. In December 2010 he was cruising to a fourth term in yet another landslide election largely due to the violent suppression of opposition political parties and civil society.
One of Lukashenko’s opponents in the election was Andrei Sannikov, a former diplomat and Deputy Foreign Minister. He resigned from the government post in 1996 to protest a referendum that drastically expanded Lukashenko’s powers. He then co-founded Charter ‘97, an organization that promotes democracy in Belarus and maintains an independent news website.
After the presidential polls closed on December 19, 2010, Andrei joined thousands of protesters peacefully demonstrating in downtown Minsk. After a small group of individuals at the back of the crowd broke the windows and doors of a government building, riot police responded with indiscriminate and disproportionate force. Just before midnight, police moved in and violently dispersed the crowd, and although they encountered virtually no resistance, authorities arrested over 700 people, severely beating many of them.
During the crackdown, police seriously injured Andrei’s legs by pinning him to the ground with a riot shield and repeatedly jumping on the shield. On the way to the hospital, police stopped Andrei, dragged him out of the car, and arrested him. They also punched his wife, Iryna Khalip, in the face and arrested her.
On May 12, 2011, Andrei was sentenced to five years in prison for organizing or participating in a mass riot. During the trial, described by the US State Department as “clearly politically motivated”, prosecutors produced no evidence that Sannikov engaged in violence.
Freedom Now and Hogan Lovells filed a petition in September 2011 with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on behalf of Andrei. The Working Group determined in May 2012 that Sannikov’s detention was a violation of international law.
We brought considerable international attention to Andrei’s case by publishing op-eds in the Washington Post and the Times of London as well as preparing a report for the UN Human Rights Council prior to Belarus’ universal periodic review. We also mobilized other areas of pressure against Belarus, such as organizing a letter from 28 members of the U.S. of House Representatives to the International Ice Hockey Federation urging it to move its 2014 World Hockey Championship from Minsk, Belarus due to its continued imprisonment of Andrei and other opposition politicians.
Andrei was finally pardoned on April 14, 2012, after nearly 16 months in detention. Shortly after his release he relocated to the United Kingdom where he was granted political asylum. He continues to advocate for democracy and human rights in Belarus. He currently serves as the Ombudsman for the World Liberty Congress, an organization dedicated to supporting political prisoners and their families.