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Women’s Hunger Strike in Belarus Protests Harsh Anti-Marijuana Laws

amanda88

Well-known member
Belarus_B.jpg

More than a dozen Belarusian women have participated in a hunger strike for 10 days, hoping for the release of their sons, husbands, grandsons, and other relatives from imprisonment or drug-related charges.

The “Mothers 328,” named after Article 328 of the Belarusian Criminal Code, began fasting Friday, April 26, 2018, in Kalinkavichy and Ostrov to protest Belarus’ harsh drug laws. Relatives of the women have prison sentences of five to 25 years.

The women want to meet with Belarusian President of Alexander Lukashenko. They call the strike “a step of desperation.”

On Thursday, April 25, 2018, the day before the protest began, the hunger strikers handed their appeals to the city executive committee, which was forwarded to Prosecutor-General Alyaksandr Kanyuk’s office.

Belarus’ drug war

Belarus was once a Soviet Union republic, though the country has shied away from Russia since its annexation of Crimea in 2014. Despite showing signs of aligning with the European Union — releasing political prisoners, abandoning a highly unpopular “parasite tax” on unemployed residents — Belarus maintains tough anti-drug laws.

This is partially attributed to harsh drug laws and Soviet-era anti-cannabis propaganda from Lukashenko’s government. Lukashenko is the first, and only, President of Belarus, having served five terms since the passage of the post-Soviet Union Constitution in 1994. Lukashenko’s authoritarian system of government is described by British author and journalist Peter Pomerantsev as the “last dictatorship in Europe.”

Belarus’ penal code has no distinction between categories of drugs, meaning possession of cannabis and heroin are prosecuted with the same penalties. According to Legalize Belarus, a youth-led campaign to end Belarus’ drug war, more than 15,000 people have been imprisoned for drug-related crimes, many for minor cannabis possession resulting in five- to eight-year prison sentences.

Such petty possession cases see Belarusian prosecutors push for trafficking charges that guarantee a minimum prison sentence of five years. According to Legalize Belarus, possession of 5 grams of cannabis allows accused offenders to be charged with “intention to distribute.” The Belarusian judiciary has also been called into question by relatives of the convicted for its lack of transparency in its investigations, weak evidence, and cruel court proceedings.

According to Aliena Krasoŭskaja, who heads the Belarusian human-rights organization Region 119, the courts are judging in accordance with somewhat recent legislation.

In 2014, after a January poppy seed ban resulted in a reduction in opiate consumption, Belarus saw a rise in synthetic drug use. Also known as “spice,” these synthetic drugs have caused a spike in overdoses and drug-related deaths. In December 2014, the Lukashenka administration responded with a decree that raised the maximum sentence for drug trafficking to 25 years and lowered the criminal liability age to 14.

In response to what opponents call the oppressive nature and widespread reach of Lukashenko’s decree, human rights advocates are fighting for even modest reconsiderations of Belarus’ strict laws.

Hunger strikes continue

Seven of the hunger strikers met with presidential envoy Natallya Kahanava on Wednesday, May 2, 2018, to advocate for more lenient sentences for both their family members and the public at large. A spokesperson for the movement reported that by the sixth day, the mothers were beginning to feel the full effects of starvation — irregular blood pressure, shortness of breath, dizziness, according to Euroradio.fm

Hunger strikers were scheduled to meet with Prosecutor-General Alyaksandr Kanyuk two days later, but the meeting was canceled abruptly.

The following day, an ambulance visited the seven hunger strikers in Kalinkavichy, who reported that they continued to feel ill with critically low blood sugar levels. Liudzmila Pimenauskaya, a 66-year-old woman who took part in the strike for her grandson, decided to stop the hunger strike for health-related reasons, and was taken home by relatives.

Lukashenko’s administration did not comment on the matter, and no further meetings have been scheduled.

The women continue their hunger strike.

https://www.marijuana.com/news/2018...n-belarus-protests-harsh-anti-marijuana-laws/
 

JustSumTomatoes

Indicas make dreams happen
Cannabis is treated just like heroin over there? That is freaking insane. It boggles my mind sometimes seeing how it is viewed from one place to another. I wish the citizens of Belarus a brighter future. Thanks for sharing.
 

stoney917

i Am SoFaKiNg WeTod DiD
Veteran
probably gonna end up like there men or worse why ppl think protesting is gonna help they just gonna starve... a country like that cmon mang shouldn't do the crime if ya can't do the time.... none of the gov gives 2 shits bout these women dude in charge is eating a steak and gonna let them starve laughing... they should know this they live there...
 
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Gypsy Nirvana

Recalcitrant Reprobate -
Administrator
Veteran
Cannabis is still a 'Schedule One Narcotic' under Federal law, same as Heroin in the USA - so the USA does have something in common with Belarus cannabis laws - both seem ridiculously out-of-date and draconian to extremis in content.


Fighting for the freedom of your loved ones - in any way you can is a noble quest - good luck for any sort of positive result from this - at least it might have increased awareness internationally to the in-justice of it all - separation of families and so loss of family life for the members over many years for a victimless crime should be outlawed.
 

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