In early June, Helge Limburg, a deputy of the German Bundestag and representative of the Alliance 90/The Greens, wrote another letter to his political ward Andrei Paheryla to congratulate him on his birthday, which Andrei is spending for the second time in detention.
I am writing to you again, first of all, to congratulate you on your birthday.
I wish you happiness and health, but above all that you will be able to celebrate your next birthday again with your children and family!
However, I am not sure if this letter will reach you before your birthday. I have noticed that a letter from Berlin to Gomel takes about one or two weeks. Besides, I unfortunately do not know whether my letters will actually be delivered to you. Therefore, if this letter does not reach you in time, whenever you read this letter, I also wish you a happy birthday.
I would like to assure you once again that your fate and the fate of all Belarusian prisoners will not be forgotten! You may be interested to know what scale the international sponsorship programme for prisoners in Belarus has reached: since 2020, 363 MPs have already taken up sponsorship. These are members of the European Parliament, as well as the national parliaments of Germany, Switzerland, Ireland, the UK, Austria, Sweden, Scotland, the Czech Republic, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ukraine, Slovenia, Romania, Norway, Denmark and France. So you see: the sponsorship programme is international and non-partisan. All these politicians are united by their desire to work for the freedom of the people of Belarus. I am sure that all of them will make sure that the prisoners will not be forgotten until the last of them is free!
As always, I enclose with this letter a few pages of writing paper that you can use to reply. I shall be very pleased to hear from you. If there is anything I can do to help you or your family, I will be happy to do what I can.
Best regards
Helge Limburg
member of the Bundestag
Andrei Paheryla is a former mechanic-repairman of the Ammiak-3 shop at Hrodna Azot and a member of the Belarusian Independent Trade Union. He was sentenced in the Rabochy Rukh case to 14 years in a reinforced regime colony on fabricated criminal charges of treason against the state.
"Godfathers" of political prisoners continue to publish open letters for their wards, as the administration of Belarusian prisons deliberately does not pass letters from foreign persons to political prisoners.
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