Today, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya began her visit to Riga with a lecture at Riga Stradiņš University. More than one hundred students and faculty members attended the meeting.
Founded in 1950 as the Riga Medical Institute, the university is now one of the largest in Latvia. It is known for training doctors, dentists, and pharmacists, and has also actively developed social sciences.
During the lecture, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya recalled the role of Belarusian medical workers, who were among the first to speak out against the regime’s violence in 2020:
“When I look at you, I cannot help but think of the courageous doctors and students of the Belarusian State Medical University, who were among the first to join the peaceful protests in 2020. They stood up against the violence of the security forces and against injustice. They held signs saying: ‘Hands off our patients!’ and ‘Doctors stand with the people’. They were simply doing what they believed was right – defending human dignity and humanity”.
She also spoke about political prisoners, who are often denied even basic medical care in prisons. Ms. Tsikhanouskaya paid particular attention to international solidarity and to Latvia’s support for Belarus, noting that Latvia has been one of the countries most consistently supporting the Belarusian democratic movement.
At the end of the lecture, she encouraged students to take an interest in politics and support those who are fighting for freedom and human dignity:
“I want to encourage you to take part in political life. As you heard from my story, you may not be interested in politics, but politics will eventually touch you anyway. And when it does, it is better to be prepared. Remember: solidarity is a superpower. When you support those who fight for a just cause, it always comes back. This applies to Belarus. This applies to all peoples who are fighting for freedom right now”.
The lecture was followed by a Q&A session.
