Belarus opposition urges immediate release of over 200 political prisoners in dire state
By YURAS KARMANAU
Posted 10/3/24
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Belarusian opposition leader in exile Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya on Thursday said 224 political prisoners in Belarus must be freed urgently, and called on Western countries to …
You must be a member to read this story.
Join our family of readers for as little as $5 per month and support local, unbiased journalism.
Current print subscribers can create a free account by clicking here
Otherwise, follow the link below to join.
To Our Valued Readers –
Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe. The five stories do not include our exclusive content written by our journalists.
For $6.99, less than 20 cents a day, digital subscribers will receive unlimited access to YourValley.net, including exclusive content from our newsroom and access to our Daily Independent e-edition.
Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.
Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.
Need to set up your free e-Newspaper all-access account? click here.
Non-subscribers
Click here to see your options for becoming a subscriber.
Register to comment
Click here create a free account for posting comments.
Note that free accounts do not include access to premium content on this site.
I am anchor
Belarus opposition urges immediate release of over 200 political prisoners in dire state
FILE - Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, center, holds a portrait of her jailed husband, Siarhei Tsikhanouski, at a protest outside the Belarus Embassy, in Vilnius, Lithuania, on March 8, 2024, demanding freedom for political prisoners. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis, File)
Posted
By YURAS KARMANAU
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Belarusian opposition leader in exile Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya on Thursday said 224 political prisoners in Belarus must be freed urgently, and called on Western countries to negotiate their release with the Belarusian authorities.
Belarus' authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko in 2020 unleashed a brutal crackdown on dissent in response to mass protests that broke out after an election that handed him his sixth term in office and was denounced by the opposition and the West as rigged.
More than 65,000 people have been detained since then as repressions continued unabated, according to the Viasna human rights group. The group has designated over 1,300 currently behind bars as political prisoners.
Tsikhanouskaya, who ran against Lukashenko in 2020 and was forced to leave the country shortly after the vote, said Thursday that the opposition and human rights advocates identified 224 political prisoners who should be immediately released — “minors, the elderly, those with serious medical conditions or mothers of multiple children.”
“These people need to be released immediately and without conditions,” Tsikhanouskaya said in a statement.
According to Tsikhanouskaya, 29 of those on the list are in critical condition and “are basically dying in prison.” She said six political prisoners have died behind bars since 2020.
Lukashenko, who has run the country with an iron fist for 30 years and will seek re-election next year, denies that there are political prisoners in Belarus. At the same time, in recent months he has pardoned 115 people who suffered from medical conditions, applied for clemency and publicly repented.
Tsikhanouskaya welcomed the pardons and said "these steps should continue. At the same time, hundreds (more) have been arrested and 142 more people have been designated as political prisoners.”
!role~Preview!mt~photo!fmt~JPEG%20Baseline)
