#WeStandBYyou: New Godparents from Scotland

As part of our #WeStandBYyou campaign, Stuart McMillan (Scottish National Party, Scotland), Bob Doris (Scottish National Party, Scotland) and Alexander Burnett (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, Scotland) have become godparents to Yauhen Burlo, Iryna Kliazovich and Viachaslau Yaniuk.

Viachaslau Yaniuk just celebrated his 32nd birthday in detention. The political prisoner was detained in March 2023 and accused of mass riots (Art. 293-1). Viachaslau was sentenced to five years in a medium-security penal colony. The so-called trial took place in Hrodna in June 2023, but it is not known in which of the prisons he is right now. In August 2023, he was included in the list of persons involved in “extremist activities”.

Alexander Burnett is a Scottish MP for the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party. The godparenthood for Viachaslau Yaniuk is already his third one. He explains his motivation to show solidarity with Viachaslau like this: “The imprisonment of Viachaslau, along with the hundreds of others who have been imprisoned in Belarus, is abhorrent. I am honoured to join the call for his release. It is unacceptable that Viachaslau has been labelled as a “terrorist” for encouraging people to participate in protests completely unrelated to mass riots. I stand against the suppression that is taking place in Belarus, along with other elected representatives throughout Scotland and Europe. I urge the Belarusian Government to respect the human rights of Belarusian citizens and to release those who have been wrongfully detained.”

Iryna Kliazovich was born in 1966. Iryna was detained on January 23, 2024 during a mass raid by law enforcement agencies on relatives of political prisoners and people supporting them. Iryna is accused of financing so-called extremist activities (Article 361-4). It is not known where exactly Iryna is now, but most probably she is being held in pre-trial detention.

Bob Doris is also a MSP for the Scottish National Party. From now on he will support the political prisoner Iryna Kliazovich, because he is convinced that “compassion and care for others are admirable and praiseworthy attributes and should be treasured and applauded when seen. Instead, the Lukashenko regime has decided to criminalise Iryna Kliazovich, who showed compassion for people who were unjustly imprisoned and their families. If any example is needed of the brutality and inhumanity of the current regime in Belarus then it is Iryna’s imprisonment and upcoming trial.” He calls for the release of Iryna, and all other political prisoners in Belarus.

Yauhen Burlo is a member of the TOR Band rock group. He was first sentenced to 15 days of administrative arrest several times in a row. While the musician was in prison, his rock band was recognized as an “extremist formation”. During his detention, Yauhen experienced a recurrence of a pre-existing medical condition – necrosis of the hip. Yauhen faced charges of the following criminal offenses: “Incitement to hatred” (Art. 130),”Creation of or participation in an extremist formation” (Art. 361-1), “Discrediting the Republic of Belarus” (Art. 369-1) and “Slander against the President” (Art. 367). Yauhen attended the trial on crutches and was unable to stand.On October 31, 2023, the Homieĺ Regional Court sentenced him to 8 years of imprisonment and had to pay a fine of around 3,700 Belarusian roubles.

Stuart McMillan, a member of the Scottish parliament for the Scottish National Party and has become a symbolic godparent of Yauhen Burlo. This is how he describes his motivation to join our solidarity campaign and support Yauhen:
”The TOR Band wrote songs about Belarus, about Belarusian people. For his patriotism and music Yauhen Burlo was given 8 years in prison by the dictatorial regime of Alexander Lukashenko. I call for Yauhen’s release, and the release of all political prisoners in Belarus.”