page_title: Andrei Sannikov
section_title: Continued imprisonment
hierarchical_section_title: Andrei Sannikov / 19 December election / Continued imprisonment
caption_attribution_description: English: Alexander Otroschenkov.
context_page_description: Andréi Olégovich Sánnikov is a Belarusian politician and activist. In the early 1990s, he headed the Belarusian delegation on Nuclear and Conventional Weapons Armament Negotiations, also serving as the Belarusian diplomat to Switzerland. From 1995 to 1996, he served as Deputy Foreign Minister of Belarus, resigning as a form of political protest. He co-founded the civil action Charter 97, and was awarded the Bruno Kreisky Prize in 2005.
  Sannikov was a candidate at the 2010 presidential election in Belarus, and had the second highest percentage of the popular votes after incumbent Alexander Lukashenko. He was incarcerated in a Minsk KGB facility for peacefully protesting at a demonstration after the elections. Sannikov was beaten by police, tortured, and held incommunicado for two months. Amnesty International labeled him a prisoner of conscience. According to his wife, noted journalist Iryna Khalip, as of September 2011 Sannikov was in grave danger of murder and injury while incarcerated, and was being pressured by authorities to leave politics. After 16 months in prison, Sannikov was released and pardoned by Lukashenko in April 2012.
context_section_description: Sannikov was held incommunicado at an undisclosed location for two months. A letter from Sannikov was received by his mother on 15 January. At that point, he had not seen his lawyer since 29 December.
  On 2 March 2011, Sannikov's spokesman Alyaksandr Atroshchankau, was sentenced to 4 years in prison for allegedly "organizing and taking part in mass riot" (penal code section 293) during the December protests.
  Sannikov's lawyer Pavel Sapelka was disbarred on 3 March, and his mother was able to find a new defense attorney, Maryna Kavaleuskaya, to represent his case on 12 March. She met briefly with Sannikov on 15 March. Later, Andrei Varvashevich was added to his defense team. They have stated Sannikov is suffering from untreated gout and otitis, as well as leg injuries.
  The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus accused Sannikov of organizing a "mass riot, attended by violence against a person, violent attacks, destruction of property, and armed resistance to representatives of the authorities".
  The German section of Amnesty International issued an "urgent action" alert, stating that they believed Sannikov to be facing torture and maltreatment while in custody.
  April appeal
  On 15 April, Minsk City Court heard an appeal from Andrei Sannikov's lawyers, asking for his criminal persecution to be stopped and a softer measure of restraint to be enacted. The appeal was denied. He was to be tried on 27 April. On 14 May he was jailed for five years for organising mass disturbances. According to Amnesty International, as of 18 May, he was being held incommunicado and was at "serious risk of torture and other ill-treatment".
  Release
  Sannikov was pardoned by President Lukashenko and released on 14 April 2012. Sannikov called on the Belarusian government to release the remainder of its political prisoners.
caption: Alexander Otroschenkov, Sannikov's incarcerated campaign spokesman
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