During her working visit to Geneva, the Belarusian leader met with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association, Clément Voule. During the meeting, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya discussed the current situation with political prisoners and informed Mr. Voule about the incommunicado detention of numerous people. The leader also addressed the issues related to the legalization of stay faced by Belarusians in exile, particularly the problems of document extension.
The parties also discussed the regime’s sham election. The leader emphasized that it was a political farce and took place amidst terror and intimidation. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya also informed the special rapporteur about the situation surrounding the sham election: 11 Belarusian political parties have been liquidated, many leaders have ended up in prisons, opposition candidates were not allowed to participate in the election, union leaders have been sentenced to up to 9 years in prison. The leader also mentioned the 1350 liquidated NGOs and over 15000 politically motivated criminal cases initiated since 2020.
At the end of the meeting, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya called on the special rapporteur to support the work of the UN mechanisms on Belarus, namely the work of the special rapporteur and the expert group gathering evidence of human rights violations in Belarus.
