Today, on June 9th, the second day of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya's official visit to Latvia has begun. She spoke at the plenary session of the Latvian Parliament in Riga.
- The text of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s speech:
“Dear Madam Chairman,
Dear deputies,
Dear Ministers,
Dear friends,
For me, as for the majority of Belarusians, Latvia isn’t an alien country. We share a common history, a common border, and, of course, common values. My husband Sergei, who is now in prison, our kids and I used to come here to relax by the sea and walk the old streets of Riga. I couldn't have imagined back then that one day I would have the honour of speaking here, before the Seimas.
Today I saw a white-red-white flag in front of the National Library. This flag has been flying there for almost two years, from the very beginning of our revolution, as a gesture of solidarity with the Belarusian people on behalf of Latvia. This flag has become a symbol of our struggle for Freedom. Thousands of Belarusians took to the streets and went to prisons for this flag. So when the Mayor of Riga Mārtiņš Staķis raised it here in 2021 during the Ice Hockey World Championship, he became practically a national hero in our country.
Our flags have similar legendary literary origins. The prince, who had been wounded in battle, was wrapped in a white cloth. The cloth that had been consecrated by blood became a flag and led soldiers to victory. I believe that, similarly to this legend, our flag will lead us to freedom.
I would like to start my speech today with words of gratitude: “Liels paldies draugiem!”.
Paldies – to the deputies of the Seimas for setting up a group “For Democratic Belarus”. A special “paldies” – to Inese Voika who has been the driving force behind this important initiative for Belarusians. This is not only a sign of solidarity but also a contribution to future relations between our parliaments. I invite all deputies to join this group.
Paldies – to all deputies of the Seimas who are planning or have already taken political prisoners in Belarus under their wing. Many of these prisoners endure appalling conditions and isolation, and there are attempts to convince them that they have been forgotten. The letters that you write to them give them the strength to persist and believe in victory.
Paldies – to the Latvian government. Latvia was the second country after Lithuania to impose sanctions on the Lukashenka regime. Minister Rynkevich initiated a campaign for the transfer of the Ice Hockey World Championship, the dictator’s favourite toy, from Belarus. I remember your President picketing here in Riga with a large Belarusian flag.
Paldies – to the Latvian school workers. Belarusians told me how welcoming teachers and school authorities are toward Belarusian children.
Paldies – to Latvian NGOs such as MARTA, LAPAS, Baltic Center for Media Excellence and many others that has been helping Belarusians.
Paldies – to Latvian cultural figures. Belarusian photo exhibitions, cultural events and readings of Belarusian poetry are held in the museum of Rainis and Aspasia at Jurmala. In solidarity with Belarus, Latvians have renovated the Square of Change, which is well known to all Belarusians, in the Esplanade Park in Riga. We will never forget your help.
Paldies – to the people of Latvia for the solidarity that you first demonstrated with Belarusians, and now demonstrate with Ukrainians. We will not forget the pickets of solidarity, white-red-white flags in the windows. And Ukrainians will not forget how selflessly you help refugees and provide humanitarian aid. We must do everything we can to stop this horrible war and help its victims.
Our countries are not only neighbors, we have a shared history dating back to the times of the Krivichi and Latgalian tribes. We also share a common history of the Duchy of Polotsk, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Commonwealth.
Vaclav Lastovsky, a Belarusian scientist and politician, one of those who declared the Belarusian People's Republic in 1918, lived and worked in Riga. Belarusian People's Republic’s Diplomatic Mission was in Riga, and the Republic of Latvia recognized the first Belarusian democratic independent state.
Prominent Latvians worked a lot together with Belarusian organizations. For example, Janis Rainis is remembered as a defender of Belarusians’ rights in Latvia. He represented the Belarusian diaspora in the Seimas. Belarusian scientific and educational societies and Belarusian gymnasiums flourished in Latvia while, during the same time, the annihilation of the Belarusian elite and linguistic russification took place in Soviet Belarus. Similarly, now, while Lukashenka is sowing terror in our country, Belarusian media and non-governmental organizations find temporary refuge in Latvia.
Our peoples went through dark times together – the occupation by the Russian Empire, the Soviet occupation… Latvia, too, suffered russification, the murder of intellectuals and mass deportations. But unlike Latvians, who gained their freedom and have guarded it for 32 years, Belarusians had their freedom just for a short period in the early 1990s.
Dark times for my people continue to this day. Stalinist terror returned to the country. Authorities that are loyal to Soviet ideas and the Kremlin are closing down publishing houses that publish books in Belarusian. Entrepreneurs like Pavel Belavus, who work in shops selling Belarusian national symbols, get arrested.
People who are in favour of the European democratic future are sentenced to Stalinist prison terms. In Soviet times, there were prisoners of conscience in Latvia who went through the camps more than once, such as Gunars Astra, Ints Tsalitis or Lydia Daronina-Lasmane.
Unfortunately, there are similar prisoners of conscience in modern Belarus. Among them are the politician Mikalai Statkevich, who was sentenced to 14 years in prison, and businessman Mikalai Autukhovich, who is facing the death penalty in the near future. According to the new law, people can be threatened with the death penalty for an innocent protest, even for the supposed intention. The purpose of this law is to stop people by keeping them in fear.
Political prisoners in Belarusian prisons are marked with yellow rectangles. They must always be under the eye of the prison administration, and shout out during roll calls that they are “prone to extremism”.
More than a thousand Belarusian prisoners wear such yellow rectangles on their robes. Among them are Maria Kolesnikova and Maksim Znak, who called for peaceful and non-violent protests. Among them is a 27-year-old human rights activist Marfa Rabkou, who helped the wounded. Among them is a 28-year-old journalist Katsyaryna Andreeva, who live-streamed on YouTube the dispersal of a protest. Witold Ashurak, a 40-year-old prisoner of conscience, was the first person who told about this shameful rectangle. He died in prison under mysterious circumstances a year ago.
Witold was one of an estimated 1220 people designated as political prisoners by human rights activists. Behind bars are thousands, thousands of others, whose names we do not even know.
My husband Sergei Tikhanovsky has been in solitary confinement for almost two years now. The regime sentenced him to 18 years in prison. But, as Sergei once said, how long he and other political prisoners will remain behind bars depends only on us.
It means that it depends on all of us. When the repressions began, we shouted for help, but we were barely heard. Only 10 months later, after the plane hijacking, did the European Union impose real sanctions. It was too late. This allowed the regime to regroup and launch a counteroffensive.
If we had stopped Lukashenka then, Belarus would not have become a springboard for Putin’s attack on Ukraine.
If we had won then, the suburbs of Kyiv would not have been ravaged by war and destruction, Russian troops would not have plundered the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and thousands of civilians from Bucha, Borodyanka and Gastomel would have been alive.
Every fifth Russian missile that hit Ukrainian cities was fired from Belarusian territory. And although the shelling has now stopped, it is only a matter of time before they start bombing our Ukrainian neighbours again.
Today Belarus is a de facto occupied country. Alexander Lukashenka is carrying out the will not of Belarusians, but of Putin, who helped him to stay in power. Lukashenka is trying to extricate himself from sanctions, to present himself as a victim. But he is an accomplice in this war, and must bear full responsibility for the crimes.
Meanwhile, ordinary Belarusians are decent people. 86% of my compatriots are against Belarus' participation in this war. In March and April, Belarusian patriots organized 80 acts of sabotage on the railway to slow down the movement of Russian troops. The railway connection between Ukraine and Belarus was destroyed. Belarusian cyber-guerrillas hacked the websites of the Belarusian railways and slowed down trains. The Belarusian Hajun monitoring project, which collects data on the movement of Russian troops, is being carried out online by ordinary people who want to help Ukraine.
Hundreds of young Belarusians joined the Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment to fight against Russian aggression as part of the Ukrainian army. We understand that the Ukrainian victory will give the chance for Belarusian freedom. Among these volunteers is 19-year-old Timur Mickiewicz, who was severely beaten by Lukashenka's security forces two years ago. He spent a week in a coma, his mother couldn’t endure the suffering and died. Timur himself was forced to leave the country, and is now fighting for Ukraine.
Dear friends,
It seems to me that recent months have clearly shown that Belarusians and the Lukashenka regime are not one and the same. Another thing became clear as well: Belarus is not Russia.
Even under conditions of political terror, Belarusians have found the strength to oppose the regime and resist the occupying forces. Moreover, Belarusians selflessly support Ukraine, even when it costs them their health and freedom.
Today we are facing a historic choice. There are only two paths – either a European democratic Belarus or a de jure occupation by Russia and many years of isolation, regress and lawlessness.
And it seems that there’s an obvious choice here. But we will need your help on this path.
It is important for us to preserve everything that had been built before 2020: a strong independent society, and a connection between those who left the country and those who remained there.
The democratic upsurge in 2020 would have been impossible if Belarusians had not travelled, studied and worked in the European Union, and had not built private businesses and connections.
I, therefore, call on Latvia to find a way to issue visas to Belarusians and resume the issuance of residence permits, especially to those Belarusians who fled Ukraine. This will help both political refugees and the Belarusian youth. We are prepared to assist in preventing possible abuses by the regime.
I’m asking you to increase the number of scholarships for students, and to offer programs for Belarusian researchers, scientists, journalists, and cultural activists. Independent media and Belarusian culture defy Lukashenka’s Soviet authoritarianism and Kremlin propaganda.
I’m asking you to support small and medium-sized businesses that are relocating to Latvia, to give them access to funding and government support programs. Many of them took part in our protests and were persecuted because of it.
I’m asking deputies to consider the possibility of offering an internship in the Seimas to young Belarusians. Having gained this experience, Belarusian youth will use it in the future to benefit Belarus, Latvia and European cooperation.
This month, the European Union will consider applications from Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia for EU candidate status. We sincerely wish our friends success. At the same time, it is extremely important for us to have the final document of the Summit mention the European perspective for Belarusians as well.
I’m also asking you to maintain a firm stance on Lukashenka. There must be no contact and cooperation until the political prisoners have been released. I’m asking not to succumb to his blackmail that we observe in the case of the transit of Ukraine’s grain. I call on you to strengthen sanctions against state-owned enterprises that provide Lukashenko with money that allows him to continue the repressions.
There are sanctions that Latvia can impose without waiting for the European Union – against Lukashenka’s so-called parliament that unanimously supported the “deadly” law that gives the regime “a license to kill”.
I also would like to call on Latvians not to buy into the visa exemption from Lukashenka without compelling reasons. When you go on an entertaining tourist trip to Belarus, you will find yourself in a country where more than 1200 political prisoners and their families are suffering. But be assured, we are very much looking forward to seeing Latvians in the free and democratic Belarus that we will build in the future.
I’m asking you to support us in the parliamentary assemblies of the OSCE and the Council of Europe. Representatives of the Belarusian democratic community should be there, instead of the regime's delegations. International parliamentary organizations are not a place for criminals who are at war with their own people. We have to wrest more and more space from the regime, centimetre by centimetre.
Dear friends,
These two days in Latvia gave me a feeling of being offered a friendly shoulder. There wasn’t a single meeting in which I didn’t feel at home. You have infused me with optimism and confidence that we are on the right track.
With your permission, I will take this feeling with me and share it with Belarusians who really need support.
I would be glad to invite you to Belarus, but perhaps, this is not the best idea right now. So I would like this invitation to remain open.
I am certain that we will surely meet one day and celebrate a common victory over darkness. And difficult times will only make our nations and friendship stronger.
Paldies, Latvia!”
