Andrei Sannikov

Andrei Sannikov
Sannikov in 2010
Born (1954-03-08) 8 March 1954 (age 70)
Minsk, Byelorussian SSR, Soviet Union (now Belarus)
NationalityBelarusian
Known forActivism
SpouseIryna Khalip

Andrei Olegovich Sannikov (or Andrei Sannikau, Belarusian: Андрэй Алегавіч Саннікаў, Russian: Андрей Олегович Санников, born 8 March 1954) is a Belarusian politician and activist. In the early 1990s, he headed the Belarusian delegation on Nuclear and Conventional Weapons Armament Negotiations,[1] also serving as a Belarusian diplomat to Switzerland.[2][3] From 1995 to 1996, he served as Deputy Foreign Minister of Belarus, resigning as a form of political protest.[4] He co-founded the civil action Charter 97,[3] and was awarded the Bruno Kreisky Prize in 2005.[5]

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.[6][7] Sannikov was beaten by police, tortured, and held incommunicado for two months.[8][9] Amnesty International labeled him a prisoner of conscience.[10] 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.[11] After 16 months in prison, Sannikov was released and pardoned by Lukashenko in April 2012.[12] Since 2012 he has lived in London, where he received political asylum.[13]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference nukes was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference blog was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference lukashenka was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference belaruspartisan was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference bruno was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference gazeta was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference nyone was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Masha Gessen (12 August 2020). "After a Rigged Election, Belarus Crushes Protests Amid an Information Blackout". The New Yorker. The police beat him brutally and held him in an undisclosed location, with no communication, for two months.
  9. ^ Andrew Higgins (24 August 2020). "Belarus Protests Test Limits of Lukashenko's Brutal, One-Man Rule". The New York Times. Andrei Sannikov, a former diplomat who was imprisoned and tortured after running against Mr. Lukashenko in 2010
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference amnesty was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference ciwr was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Andrei Makhovsky (14 April 2012). "Freed anti-government Belarus leader says was pushed to kill self". Reuters. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  13. ^ Masha Gessen (12 August 2020). "After a Rigged Election, Belarus Crushes Protests Amid an Information Blackout". The New Yorker.