Helge Limburg, a deputy of the German Bundestag and representative of the Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, recorded a video message on the second anniversary of the detention of Rabochy Rukh activist Andrei Paheryla.
In the address, Helge Limburg addressed the political prisoner and his family:
''Today marks the second anniversary of the arrest of trade union activist Andrei Paheryla in Belarus. Andrei was arrested for standing up for obvious things in his country. For freedom, for democracy, for human rights. For the right to unionize and stand up for these rights together.
I am Andrei's political godfather and have been campaigning for his release for a year now.
Dear Andrei Paheryla, dear family, please don't give up! We are by your side. We will not rest until you are free! Because the fight for democracy, for freedom, for fundamental human rights in Belarus will continue!''
Andrei Paheryla is a former repairman of the Ammonia-3 workshop 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. Now he is serving his sentence in Babruisk Correctional Colony No. 2.
The symbolic "godparents" of political prisoners continue to publish open appeals for their wards, as the administration of Belarusian prisons deliberately does not pass letters from foreign persons to political prisoners.