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  • Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya: “We will be happy to see every person who is released. But absolutely everyone must be free”

    September 06, 2022

    Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya: “Today, ten political prisoners were sentenced to a total of 94 years in prison. Marfa Rabkova, a coordinator of the Viasna Human Rights Center, was sentenced to 15 years in prison just for helping people. Immediately after the sentence was read, detentions began – relatives of the convicts, human rights activists, and even EU diplomats were arrested. The photo shows detained human rights defender Nasta Loika.

    All this happened just as the regime has announced possible amnesties, while at the same time taking new hostages for bartering and discussing plans to deprive Belarusians of their citizenship, which contradicts the Constitution of Belarus.

    We are happy for every person who is released. But let's not thank those who first put these people through hell before deciding to stop it. Being free regardless of one's political judgments should be the norm, not a "gift".

    We will not forget that the regime only starts talking about amnesties when attempting to trade hostages for the removal of sanctions. We will not let this happen. We know the real face of this system. Right now, they are confiscating the property of politically imprisoned people to sell it, depriving Belarusians of what they earned by working honestly. They confiscated my and Siarhei Tsikhanouski's apartment in Minsk. They made an inventory of everything in it, down to the children's watercolors, to sell it and raise money for the treasury. Seized property stores in Homiel are now selling the video equipment Siarhei had with him when he was detained on May 29, 2020. And Belarus has thousands of people like Siarhei.

    This is why we must support those who will be released. We must work to release all those who remain in prison. We must help children and relatives of political prisoners through foundations and direct donations. We must never buy cheap items confiscated from our heroes. And we must not let the regime make its conduct the norm.

    We will be happy to see every person who is released. But absolutely everyone must be free”.

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