Belarus
Journalist couple still detainedPosted Apr 13 2011
Danil Sannikov, 3, the son of imprisoned journalist Irina Khalip and her husband Andrei Sannikov is seen at his home on Jan. 12. Khalip is under house arrest while Sannikov is in police custody for taking part in a December rally against the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko. (AP Photo: Sergei Grits)
Irina Khalip, the investigative journalist who was arrested along with her husband, opposition presidential candidate Andrei Sannikov, is in her second month of house arrest. Sannikov is still in police custody.
Novaya Gazeta, the Russian newspaper for which Khalip is a correspondent reported that she was finding it difficult to explain the situation to her three-year-old son Danil.
Khalip’s mother, Lyutsina said the child was starting to ask questions such as: “Why doesn’t mom ever go outside?” and (“I’m unwell,” she explains.) “Why doesn’t she answer the phone?” (“I’m busy,” she says.)
He also asks when his father will return from the “business trip.” Sannikov recently faced new charges of “organizing mass disturbances that led to violence, cases of assault, property destruction and armed resistance to government authorities.”