#WeStandBYyou: 3 new godparents

As part of our #WeStandBYyou campaign, Isa Kahraman (Nieuw Sociaal Contract, Netherlands), Jurģis Klotiņš (Nacionālā apvienība, Latvia) and Konstantin von Notz (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, Germany) have taken over the godparenthood for Dzmitryi Sluk, Henrykh (Henadz) Akalatovich and Liudmila Chekina.

Dzmitryi Sluk is 36 years old. He was charged under Article 290.1 of the Criminal Code (“Financing of terrorist activities“) for donations to an organization recognized as ‘extremist‘. According to the regime, on August 20, 2021, Dzmitryi Sluk transferred the amount equivalent to $2,160 in a cryptocurrency to an organization, being aware of the nature of their activity. On March 16, 2023, the KGB added the political prisoner to their ‘List of terrorists‘. On July 4, 2023 he was sentenced to eight years and six months of imprisonment in a general-security penal colony and approx. $3.475 as of August 2023. On June 24, 2024, a new trial was held over Dzmitryi in Viciebsk to change the detention regime. Judge Mikhail Zubenia decided to transfer the political prisoner to prison.

Isa Kahraman is a MP in the Netherlands and a member of the party Nieuw Sociaal Contract. He has become a godparent to a Belarusian political prisoner for the first time and explains his motivation to support Dzmitryi: “As a Dutch member of parliament, it is not only important to look at your own national affairs but also to support your neighbours. It is unacceptable that people engaged in civil society are being cracked down on so harshly by the current regime, such as in the case of Dzmitryi Sluk. Therefore, speaking out against such human rights violations is the right and necessary thing to do in my position. I hope that in the future, Belarus will prosper as a functioning democracy alongside its western neighbours.”

Henrykh (Henadz) Akalatovich is a 64-year-old priest. He was detained in November 2023. He had suffered a heart attack and had recently undergone stomach surgery for cancer; he requires medical supervision and constant medication. In the first days of his detention he was denied warm clothes and food. The priest was given only toiletries, underwear and pills. The trial against the political prisoner began on November 2024. He was charged with treason against the state under Part 1 of Article 356 of the Criminal Code. On December 2024, the court announced the sentence: 11 years of imprisonment in a general-security penal colony. It is known that Akalatovich did not plead guilty. In April 2025, the priest delivered a message to the faithful. He said that he was accused of “spying on behalf of Poland and the Vatican,” which he called a “gross provocation.” He emphasized that he had never been a spy for anyone, and that he was a servant of God. According to the priest, there is “not a word of truth in the case against him, not a single fact that implicates him in espionage, while the entire accusation is based on lies, threats, and blackmail”. On May 2025, he was included in the list of citizens of Belarus, foreign citizens and stateless persons involved in “extremist” activities. In June 2025, it became known that the priest was transferred to pre-trial detention center No. 1. After that he may have been transferred to a hospital.

Jurģis Klotiņš is a Latvian MP from and a member of the party Nacionālā apvienība “Visu Latvijai!”–”Tēvzemei un Brīvībai/LNNK”. He is proudly taking the godparenthood over the priest Akalatovich and believes that the freedom of opinion, conscience and religion are fundamental human rights that every country in the world must respect. The Latvian MP states: “I believe that Priest Henrykh Akalatovich is a defender of these rights in Belarus, which is ruled by an authoritarian regime. I am participating in the #WeStandBYyou campaign and taking on the role of the godfather of Priest Henrykh, because as a politician and a Christian, I know how important religious freedom is. There have been pastors, priests and ordinary believers in my Latvian nation who were not afraid to stand up for the truth under totalitarianism, just like Priest Henrykh. They stood up for the right of the Latvian people to their own independent state and the freedom to profess faith in Jesus Christ, who Christians believe is Lord over all man-made powers and governments. One of them was the honored Bishop Boļeslavs Sloskāns, who served both as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Rīga and as apostolic administrator of Mahilyow and Minsk. His life testimony is of great spiritual importance in Latvia and Belarus.”

Liudmila Chekina is the former general director of TUT.BY, the largest Belarusian independent online media. Her colleagues say she is a very patient and kind person, who appreciates people, is always ready to help. She loves reading, flowers, and animals—she has two cats. Liudmila Chekina was arrested in May 2021, as a defendant in a criminal case initiated against TUT.BY for ‘tax evasion on an especially large scale’ (Part 2 of Article 243 of the Criminal Code). In October 2022, the KGB included Chekina in the ‘List of persons involved in terrorist activities’. Liudmila was charged under the three articles of the Criminal Code: Part 2 of Article 243 (‘Tax evasion on an especially large scale’) Part 4 of Article 16 and Part 3 of Article 130 (‘Organization of deliberate actions aimed at inciting racial, national, religious or other social hatred or enmity on the racial, national, religious, linguistic, or another social basis, committed by a group of persons or entailing grave consequences’); Part 4 of Article 16 and Part 3 of Article 361 (‘Calls for actions aiming to harm the national security of Belarus disseminated via the media or Internet’). On January 2023, the Minsk City Court began the trial of the TUT.BY case, which was held behind closed doors. On March 2023 sentenced Liudmila Chekina, to 12 years of imprisonment in a general-security penal colony. Liudmila Chekina was also fined approx. $12,358). On August 2023, the political prisoner was transferred to women’s penal colony.

Konstantin von Notz, Member of the German Bundestag, has taken over the godparenthood for Liudmila Chekina and declared: “It is a special honour for me to take over the godparenthood for Liudmila Chekina from my colleague Tessa Ganserer, who is no longer running for the German Bundestag. Liudmila Chekina has been working for freedom of expression in Belarus for over a decade – first as a legal advisor, later as Director General of the largest independent news portal in Belarus, TUT.BY. As a result of her courageous, important and impressive work, Liudmila Chekina was put on a terrorist list by the Belarusian KGB, arrested in 2021 and sentenced to a total of 12 years in prison in a trial behind closed doors in 2023. As democrats, it is our duty not to forget people like Ludmila Chekina, who risk everything to fight for freedom and democracy, and to continue to campaign for her release. Liudmila Chekina is now the third person from Belarus that I have had the honour of supporting. Leanid Sudalenka was released from prison in 2023 and was able to flee into exile. Tamara Karavai, whose godparenthood I was then allowed to take over in 2023, was sentenced to two years in prison, but has fortunately also been released in the meantime. Unfortunately, this is still not the case for over 1,200 other unjustly imprisoned political prisoners. I therefore demand once again: Liudmila Chekina and all other unjustly imprisoned people in Belarus must be released. The Belarusian government must immediately put an end to the violence, repression and arbitrary arrests, guarantee free and fair elections and finally guarantee basic democratic standards and the rule of law.”