February 1, Pozirk. Belarusian authorities have released Palina Šarenda-Panasiuk, an activist of the European Belarus civil campaign, her husband Andrej Šarenda said.
“Palina has walked free after her fourth term ended. Four years and one month behind bars,” he said on Facebook this morning.
The Belarusian opposition leader, Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja, welcomed the release. “She lost her health but never her principles. We must keep fighting for those still unjustly imprisoned,” she tweeted.
Šarenda-Panasiuk had been in prison since January 3, 2021.
Six months after her arrest, a Brest court sentenced her to two years in prison for violence against a police officer and insults against the head of state and an official.
Furthermore, in April 2022, October 2023 and October 2024 she was found guilty of disobeying prison authorities. Justices additionally sentenced her to three years and one day behind bars.
The authorities have released her now and not later since they count each day she spent at a pre-trial detention center as one and a half days in prison.
In March 2024, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women called on the authorities to take urgent measures to protect Šarenda-Panasiuk. It was the first such action against Belarus.
The next day, the state television channel Belarus 1 aired an interview with the political prisoner, in which she said she had asked Alaksandar Łukašenka for pardon.
Human rights activists reported that the authorities could release Šarenda-Panasiuk on May 21, but authorities filed a third disobedience case against her instead.
Andrej Šarenda, who fled the country with their two children, reported a sharp deterioration in his wife’s condition, diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis – “a severe disease that requires a strict diet and constant medical supervision.”
