Political prisoner’s “interview” raises doubts

March 22, Pozirk. “No matter what nonsense the Lukashist garbage dumps will show today, understand that Palina is saving her life. You cannot trust them,” said Andrej Šarenda, the husband of political prisoner Palina Šarenda-Panasiuk.

He took to Facebook to comment on the announcement that an interview with her will be featured tonight in the “Panorama” program on Belarus 1.

“We have not had normal communication with Palina for three months. We do not have the slightest idea what has happened to her during this time,” Šarenda said.

According to the state Agency of Television News (ATN), Šarenda-Panasiuk told it “about all the nuances of work of the European Belarus illegal group,” named “surnames and sums” and stated that she decided “to write a petition for pardon.”

In June 2021, a district court in Brest sentenced her to two years in prison for alleged violence against a police officer and insults against state officials. She subsequently received additional sentences for allegedly disobeying the prison administration. Šarenda-Panasiuk has often faced pressure such as detention in a punishment cell and deprivation of food and medicine parcels.

On March 21, it was reported that the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women called on Minsk to take urgent measures to protect Šarenda-Panasiuk. It was the first such incident in cases against Belarus.