German MP: Leŭšyna shows Łukašenka’s fear of civil society, freedom of opinion and media

November 29, BPN. “Iryna Leŭšyna is under arrest for expressing her opinion in a regime that does not accept free opinions,” German MP Merle Spellerberg has said on the birthday of the BelaPAN media company’s editor in chief and CEO, who is serving a four-year prison sentence on charges of creating an “extremist group.”

Spellerberg of Alliance 90/The Greens became Leŭšyna’s symbolic godmother on December 13, 2021, as part of a solidarity campaign initiated by German-Swiss human rights organization Libereco to put Belarusian political prisoners in the spotlight.

“Her arrest is an example of the human rights violations that are an everyday reality in Belarus,” the MP said in a statement, received by BPN. Spellerberg demanded that Leŭšyna and other Belarusian political prisoners be immideately released.