On Friday, a press conference was held in Vilnius with participation from political prisoners who had been released on Thursday by the Belarusian regime. The leader of the local opposition, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, spoke on behalf of the persecuted. She emphasized that this is not the end of the fight for freedom for those being held.
“Together with the USA and our allies in Europe, we will strive to secure the release of all political prisoners in Belarus,” announced the leader of the Belarusian opposition, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, during a press conference in Vilnius with political prisoners released on Thursday.
“Everyone who has been released has the right to choose: to stay in the country or leave it,” Tsikhanouskaya stressed, speaking in Belarusian and English. She added that the release of prisoners did not mean true freedom, but was a forced deportation.
She cited the case of Mikola Statkevich, who refused to leave the country and returned to Belarus. Subsequently – as reported by the Belarusian independent portal Zerkalo – he was abducted by masked individuals and taken in an unknown direction. The leader of the Belarusian opposition thanked US President Donald Trump and his envoy John Coale, who met with the leader of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, in Minsk on Thursday.
“Terror reigns in Belarus”
The conference also featured remarks from activist Mikola Dziadok. “Terror reigns in Belarus. One day, scholarly papers will be written about these methods of repression,” he said. Dziadok called for continued support for persecuted individuals in Belarus.
Some of the roughly 20 participants at the conference shared their experiences from their time in prison. They also thanked the US President for his efforts in securing the release of prisoners.
According to the Belarusian opposition and human rights organizations, there are still about 1,300 political prisoners in Belarus; many of them were arrested in response to the mass protests following the rigged presidential elections in 2020.