Andrei Sannikau released (updated, photo and video added)

00.15 Euroradio has phoned Andrei Sannikau when he was heading for Minsk from Vitsebsk.

Euroradio: It was impossible to contact you when you were in Syarhei Parsyukevich’s flat in Vitsebsk – journalists kept phoning you. Did you manage to talk to your wife and son?

Andrei Sannіkau: Of course, I phoned my wife, mother and son in the first place.

Euroradio: How did you son react to you voice?

Andrei Sannіkau: You know, we have not seen each other for 16 months. That is why he… I do not know how he reacted. But he said that he was a bit embarrassed. And I understand him.

Euroradio: You wife has commented on the news about your release: “I will not believe it until I see him free!” Did she finally believe when you phoned her?

Andrei Sannіkau: I have similar feelings. Until I reach home… I do not know in what world I am now!

Euroradio: But your friends and colleagues are near and you must feel that something has changed, mustn’t you?

Andrei Sannіkau: Of course, something has changed. But I have not understood it yet and I do not feel anything special at the moment.

Euroradio: What would you like to see at home? What ordinary things?

Andrei Sannіkau: I want to reach my home in the first place. I do not think about it. I’d like to hug my wife, son and mother. Everything else is secondary.

Euroradio: You have been released because you pled for mercy… What affected it?

Andrei Sannіkau: I would not like to comment on anything now, okay? Not now.

23.30 Andrei Sannikau will probably meet journalists on his arrival at the central railway terminal, informs “Nasha Niva”. Vitsebsk activist Syarhei Parsyukevich invited him to his place after the politician’s release from Navapolatsk colony.

21:00 In an interview with Radio Svaboda, Mr Sannikau says he is not ready to answer the question about his attitude to Lukashenka who has signed the pardon. He also says he is not prepared to answer questions about his plans. Mr Sannikau states no health complaints but says he is having flu. He has revealed some details of his release. Approximately at 1730, he was summoned to the administration of Vitsba-3 prison colony and told to collect his belongings. The prison officials later showed the document which allegedly referred to the president's edict on pardon. After he quickly gathered his things, Sannikau was fetched to the local railway station from where he called his wife and lawyer.

The ex-presidential candidate was held behind bars since December 19, 2010. Andrei Sannikau today was released from the prison colony in Navapolatsk.

Former political prisoner Aliaksandr Atroshchankau who was Andrei Sannikau's spokesman during the 2010 presidential campaign, is expected to collect him in Vitsebsk. Atroshchank'a car is at the moment halfway from Vitsebsk.

20:20  Andrei Sannikau's wife Iryna Khalip told Euroradio her husband managed to make a short phone call from a public phone to tell her he was free. When asked about the circumstances of his release,  Sannikau answered briefly: "The same way as I was imprisoned".

The politician was sentenced to 5 years in a high-security prison after he was found guilty of allegedly masterminding "mass riots" on Election Day - December 19, 2010 in Minsk. In late January 2012, Mr Sannikau signed the clemency petition, addressed to President Lukashenka.

Meanwhile, yet another presidential candidate in the 2010 race, Mikalai Statkevich still remains behind bars. He was sentenced to 6 years in a high-security prison, but refused to file his clemency appeal to Lukashenka.

Photo: svaboda.org