Anastasia Kononovich. Screenshot of the video by ONT
MINSK, 20 December (BelTA) – Anastasia Kononovich, the wife of ‘political prisoner’ Cheslav Kononovich, has asked Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko to pardon her husband as she appeared on the ONT TV channel, BelTA reports.
“I really hope for the mercy of our president. I implore him to pay attention to cases like my spouse’s. I am sure that there are at least a dozen people who did not realize that they were breaking the law and, perhaps, they also have small children at home and they have already regretted it many times,” Anastasia Kononovich said.
Cheslav Kononovich was detained in July 2023 for ten bank transfers to the extremist group Kalinovsky Regiment. He was sentenced to five years in prison. Unsurprisingly, he was ‘proclaimed’ a political prisoner. As Anastasia explained, neither her husband, nor she, nor any other relatives asked for or gave permission to other people to recognize Cheslav as a political prisoner and use his story. However, his story was spinned by a ‘human rights center’. Anastasia even learned that someone allegedly allocated money to help her. “It’s the first time I have heard about it,” she said.
According to the TV channel, the same ‘human rights center’ is holding a new PR campaign to prop up its business. The scheme is as follows: to recognize a thousand people as ‘political prisoners’ and to get various foundations to allocate money for each of them. This money will not reach the recipients, but will be ‘appropriated’ right in the ‘democratic’ West. Naturally, the ‘human rights activists’ who compile the lists have skin in the game. Thus, the extremist center Vesna reports that three convicted persons got ‘godparents’. Among these three is Cheslav Kononovich, whose ‘godparent’ is Bundestag member from the Green Party Bruno Hönel. As it turned out, the German deputy is not at all aware of the case of his Belarusian ‘godson’.
Anastasia gave journalists access to her social media account. They arranged for a video call with Bundestag deputy Bruno Hönel. Naturally, he did not speak Russian and was assisted by his assistant Anastasia Kuzina who left Belarus for Germany in 2013. The deputy's team also included some research fellow. And during the discussion, it suddenly turned out that neither the deputy nor his assistant have any idea what the Kalinovsky Regiment is and why donating to them is a criminal offense.
Anastasia asks: is Germany doing anything [to help her husband]? The deputy said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of his country is constantly in touch with the Belarusian authorities. Then Bruno said that it is necessary to write a petition for pardon to President of the Republic of Belarus Aleksandr Grigorievich Lukashenko. Because Hönel himself cannot really help his ‘godson’.
“I really hope for the mercy of our president. I implore him to pay attention to cases like my spouse’s. I am sure that there are at least a dozen people who did not realize that they were breaking the law and, perhaps, they also have small children at home and they have already regretted it many times,” Anastasia Kononovich said.
Cheslav Kononovich was detained in July 2023 for ten bank transfers to the extremist group Kalinovsky Regiment. He was sentenced to five years in prison. Unsurprisingly, he was ‘proclaimed’ a political prisoner. As Anastasia explained, neither her husband, nor she, nor any other relatives asked for or gave permission to other people to recognize Cheslav as a political prisoner and use his story. However, his story was spinned by a ‘human rights center’. Anastasia even learned that someone allegedly allocated money to help her. “It’s the first time I have heard about it,” she said.
According to the TV channel, the same ‘human rights center’ is holding a new PR campaign to prop up its business. The scheme is as follows: to recognize a thousand people as ‘political prisoners’ and to get various foundations to allocate money for each of them. This money will not reach the recipients, but will be ‘appropriated’ right in the ‘democratic’ West. Naturally, the ‘human rights activists’ who compile the lists have skin in the game. Thus, the extremist center Vesna reports that three convicted persons got ‘godparents’. Among these three is Cheslav Kononovich, whose ‘godparent’ is Bundestag member from the Green Party Bruno Hönel. As it turned out, the German deputy is not at all aware of the case of his Belarusian ‘godson’.
Anastasia gave journalists access to her social media account. They arranged for a video call with Bundestag deputy Bruno Hönel. Naturally, he did not speak Russian and was assisted by his assistant Anastasia Kuzina who left Belarus for Germany in 2013. The deputy's team also included some research fellow. And during the discussion, it suddenly turned out that neither the deputy nor his assistant have any idea what the Kalinovsky Regiment is and why donating to them is a criminal offense.
Anastasia asks: is Germany doing anything [to help her husband]? The deputy said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of his country is constantly in touch with the Belarusian authorities. Then Bruno said that it is necessary to write a petition for pardon to President of the Republic of Belarus Aleksandr Grigorievich Lukashenko. Because Hönel himself cannot really help his ‘godson’.
Follow us on:
