In previewing the European Parliament’s commemoration of International Women’s Day, President Roberta Metsola announced that the Parliament would welcome Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the national leader of Belarus, along with other courageous women from Ukraine and Belarus, who are standing up for freedom.
“This week will also serve to re-affirm this House’s steadfast support for the people of Belarus in their struggle for freedom, including political prisoners,“ President Metsola said. She added that the Parliament would once again observe the international day of solidarity with the people of Belarus, allowing MEPs to sign postcards addressed to the 1,250 political prisoners unjustly held by the Lukashenka regime.
“We know their names, we see their struggle, and we stand with them,“ Metsola stated.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s husband, opposition leader Siarhei, is imprisoned by the Minsk regime in an unknown location, marking two years of incommunicado detention as of yesterday.
“I don’t know if [Siarhei] is alive, where he is kept, and in what moral or physical state he is”, said Tsihanouskaya during an event on political prisoners in Belarus. “This is the reality for all political prisoners completely isolated by Lukashenka’s regime,“ she highlighted.
Today, Tsikhanouskaya was invited to give a speech to the European Parliament.
“Belarus is not a bargaining chip. Our freedom cannot be sacrificed to appease Putin or Lukashenka. We are not Russia’s backyard; we are a proud European nation. True peace means restoring Belarus to its people and ending three decades of dictatorship,“ she said.
