Mikhail Marynich


Mikhail Marynich was a Belarusian opposition leader from Homiel Voblast. He was a minister of foreign economic affairs and an ambassador of Belarus to Latvia.
He became an opposition politician when he ran against the president Lukashenko for the presidency in the 2001 election, when he openly accused Lukashenko of implementing authoritarian policies in the country.
After the election Marynich was accused and imprisoned on dubious charges of stealing computers from an NGO, of which he was himself a director. The computers belonged to the US Embassy, and the US Department issued a statement that they didn't have any claims against Mr Marynich. He was given a five-year sentence, although the sentence was later cut to 3.5 years. Amnesty International declared that it considered him a prisoner of conscience.
In March 2005, still in Orsha prison, he suffered a cerebral stroke. A few days later, he married 33-year-old Tatiana Baranava, a longtime colleague of his. He had divorced his first wife after a marriage that lasted 35 years. They have two sons.
Marynich was released from jail on April 14, 2006, shortly after Alexander Lukashenko started his controversial third term in office.
Marynich is the inspirational leader for Zubr, a youth resistance movement.
In 2010, the UN Human Rights Committee found that in Marynich's case, Belarus violated articles 7, 9, 10, paragraph 1, and 14, paragraphs 1 and 2, of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Marynich died on 17 October 2014 at the age of 74.