German MP becomes symbolic godparent to imprisoned journalist Palina Pitkevich

As part of the #WeS­tand­BYy­ou cam­paign, Ophe­lia Nick, a mem­ber of the Ger­man polit­i­cal par­ty Bünd­nis 90/Die Grü­nen, has become the sym­bol­ic god­par­ent of jour­nal­ist Pali­na Pitke­vich, who was sen­tenced by the Belaru­sian author­i­ties to three years in prison.

Ophe­lia Nick. Pho­to: libereco.org

Ophe­lia Nick is a mem­ber of the Ger­man Bun­destag from Bünd­nis 90/Die Grü­nen, as report­ed by Libere­co. The human rights orga­ni­za­tion cites the fol­low­ing state­ment from the sym­bol­ic god­par­ent:

“Pali­na Pitke­vich is a jour­nal­ist and the­atre lover who main­ly wrote about cul­tur­al top­ics for the inde­pen­dent Belaru­sian por­tal Media IQ. In June 2024, just weeks before her 30th birth­day, Pali­na was arrest­ed after the Belaru­sian regime clas­si­fied Media IQ as ‘extrem­ist’.

In March 2025, she was sen­tenced to three years in prison. Inde­pen­dent jour­nal­ism is not a crime, and free­dom of expres­sion is a human right! I call for the imme­di­ate release of Pali­na Pitke­vich and all oth­er polit­i­cal pris­on­ers.”

Jour­nal­ist Pali­na Pitke­vich. Pho­to: Social media

Jour­nal­ist Pali­na Pitke­vich was detained on June 6, 2024. Her tri­al was held at the Min­sk City Court. Judge Svi­at­lana Chara­pana­va found Pitke­vich guilty of par­tic­i­pa­tion in an extrem­ist for­ma­tion. The exact nature of the charges remains unknown.

The Belaru­sian human rights com­mu­ni­ty has rec­og­nized Pali­na Pitke­vich as a polit­i­cal pris­on­er.

In March 2025, she was sen­tenced to three years in a cor­rec­tion­al facil­i­ty along with a heavy fine.