{"id":124877,"date":"2025-02-04T17:48:34","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T14:48:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/124877\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","slug":"meps-welcome-sarenda-panasiuks-release-as-important-step-addressing-rights-abuses","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/124877\/","title":{"rendered":"MEPs welcome \u0160arenda-Panasiuk’s release as important step to address rights abuses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n File photo (Palina \u0160arenda-Panasiuk on social media)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

February 4, Pozirk.<\/em><\/strong> The European Parliament delegation for relations with Belarus has issued a statement<\/a> welcoming the recent release of Belarusian opposition activist Palina \u0160arenda-Panasiuk as an important step toward eliminating human rights violations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The statement says that \u0160arenda-Panasiuk spent four years and one month at a penal colony, “where she was held in unbearable conditions, exposed to torture and inhuman treatment.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The MEPs expressed “serious concerns about thousands of Belarusians imprisoned on political grounds who are being kept in horrendous conditions, facing torture, denial of medical care, and restricted contact with family members and lawyers.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They reiterated their call on the EU and its member states to support political prisoners in Belarus and their families, demand their immediate and unconditional release whenever possible and simplify visa procedures for Belarusians fleeing the regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We urge the EU and its partners to continue exerting pressure on the regime by: broadening and strengthening sanctions against individuals and entities responsible for repression in Belarus; targeting those responsible for Belarus’s participation in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine; specifically addressing the issue of forced labour of political prisoners,” the statement said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Delegation chairwoman Ma\u0142gorzata Gosiewska, foreign affairs committee chairman David McAllister and standing rapporteur on Belarus Helmut Brandst\u00e4tter signed the statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0160arenda-Panasiuk was in detention since January 3, 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, in April 2022, October 2023 and October 2024 she was found guilty of disobeying prison authorities. Judges additionally sentenced her to three years and one day behind bars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In March 2024, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women called on the authorities to take urgent measures to protect \u0160arenda-Panasiuk. It was the first such action against Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next day, the state television channel Belarus 1<\/em> broadcast an interview, in which she said she had asked Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka for pardon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human rights activists reported that the authorities could release \u0160arenda-Panasiuk on May 21, but the colony administration filed a third disobedience case against her instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her husband Andrej \u0160arenda, who fled the country with their two children, reported a sharp deterioration in his wife\u2019s condition, diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis \u2013 \u201ca severe disease that requires a strict diet and constant medical supervision.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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European initiative names and shames Belarus\u2019 election monitors<\/h3>\n
January 30, Pozirk. The European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE), representing 13 independent European election observation organizations, has said that it exposed over 90 politically-biased observers deployed to whitewash what it called fraudulent Belarusian election. Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka and his officials …<\/div>\n \n