Today Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya met with the Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann (Speaker of the Irish Senate) Jerry Buttimer. The Belarusian leader spoke about the latest wave of repressions against political prisoners. For his part, the speaker expressed his willingness to take patronage over a political prisoner, as well as urge other senators to join the campaign.
At the meeting, the parties discussed sending a special mission of the Irish Parliament to Warsaw and Vilnius to meet with Belarusian activists, journalists and repressed to prepare a report on the situation in Belarus. They also talked about the resolution on Belarus that the Irish Parliament is already working on.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya commented on the meeting: “The Belarusian issue unites members of the Irish Parliament regardless of political views and party affiliation. We are establishing a group of Friends of Democratic Belarus, which will keep Belarus on the agenda and will be a place for strategy and policy-making on Belarus”.
The speaker, in turn, noted that members of the Senate would join a group of Friends of Belarus if it is created in Parliament.
