Yuri Bandazhevsky

Professor Yury Bandazhevsky, a scientist specializing in nuclear medicine, has spent much of his career focusing on the effects of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear reactor explosion.
His research into the effects of the radioactive fall-out on people living in Belarus led to his publishing a report critical of the official research being conducted into the Chernobyl incident, which he claimed had not produced any significant scientific findings.
Soon after the report was published, he was arrested on "anti-terrorism" charges. Although he was released conditionally in December 1999, new charges of corruption were brought against him.

Following an unfair trial, he was convicted in June 2001 of accepting bribes from students seeking admission to the Gomel Medical Institute, of which he is the former rector.
Professor Bandazhevsky adamantly denied the charges against him, and expressed fear that he had been targeted by the state authorities on account of his scientific research into the Chernobyl incident and his open criticism of the state authorities.
Amnesty International considers Yury Bandazhevsky to be a prisoner of conscience, who has been sentenced to eight years in prison for exercising his right to freedom of expression.

Prison Address

Please send letters of support to:

Prof. Yury I. Bandazhevsky
ul. Kalvariyskaya 36
PO Box 35/21
220600 Minsk
BELARUS

Dear All,
Your signatures, be they of an organization or of single individuals are needed now to pressure the Belarus government to release Professor Bandazhevsky from near Gulag conditions. Please add your name, name of your organization [if any] and address from wherever in the world you are. Please send all sign- ons to me, Bill Smirnow, at: smirnowb@ix.netcom.com. Thanks greatly for your help.

Please pass this along to other lists, individuals, NGOs and other potentially interested parties. The few seconds it takes you to sign this including your address and organization [if any] and then pass it along will go a long way in helping to free Professor Bandazhesky. Amnesty International has taken a strong interest in the Professor's case.

Bill Smirnow [New York, USA] May 8, 2003

MANIFESTO FOR PR. BANDAZHEVSKY'S RELEASE AND FREEDOM OF RESEARCH

Pr. Yury Bandazhevsky is currently imprisoned in Minsk, Belarus since June 2001. As a Doctor and an Expert on radiation exposure caused by the Chernobyl accident he was appointed in 1990 as Rector of the Gomel Medical institute. Gomel has been the hardest hit area by nuclear releases. From 1990 to 1999, along with his wife Galina, also a Doctor, Pr. Bandazhevsky studied damages caused by Caesium 137: heart diseases, cataracts, early aging, etc.. He has discovered a measurable relationship between nuclear doses and various symptoms. In 1999, he published his results at a time when many people wanted to turn a blind eye to the problems and wish to send Belarus inhabitants back to the lands that are still contaminated. Before his arrest in July 1999 he had written a report critical of the Belarus Government official research conducted with international funds regarding Chernobyl after effects. Pr. Bandazhevsky was arrested shortly after the issuance of this report on the basis of a Presidential Decree " for the Combat of terrorism."

In 2001, he stood accused of having recieved money from students seeking admission to Gomel Medical Institute. After a trial held before a Military Tribunal he was sentenced to eight years imprisonnement. Expert witnesses who attended the trial have noted at least 8 infringements of the Belarussian Criminal Code and the main prosecution witness had retracted his statement against Pr. Bandazhevsky. Pr. Bandazhevsky is currently jailed in a penal colony with harsh conditions tantamount to a Gulag.

But we think that the right to a fair trial is not the only one to have been thwarted. Beside people's opinions about things nuclear, what is at stake is the RIGHT TO KNOW THE TRUTH, the right to conduct research and the scientist's right to communicate data. Also the right for people to know it without interference that is politically or economically motivated.

THE INDEPENDENCE OF ALL RESEARCH in the services of Humanity is as important a principle as the independence of Justice. Pr. Bandazhevsky's imprisonment flouts both these principles. Therefore, we, the undersigned, ask for the immediate and unconditionnal release of Pr. Bandazhevsky in order that he can carry on his research without interference at his Institute.

We suggest that all scientists, researchers, scholars and citizens stand for these principles: