Today, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya met with the Prime Minister of Slovenia Janez Janša and the Foreign Minister Anže Logar. This visit is important as Slovenia will hold the presidency of the European Union from July 1, 2021.
During the meetings:
– Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya described the situation of human rights violations in Belarus, the ongoing repressions, the cases of Mikalai Statkevich, Ihar Losik, Siarhei Tsikhanouski, and the hundreds of Belarusians who have been imprisoned on politically motivated cases;
– Slovenian politics praised the initiative on voting for the negotiations. Therefore, at the meetings, plans for a high-level international political conference on the resolution of the crisis in Belarus were discussed, including with the participation of the OSCE PA and world politicians;
– leader of democratic Belarus called to support the International Accountability Platform (IAPB). The Slovenian side stressed the importance of this mechanism in the fight for transparency on violations of the rights of Belarusians;
– was discussed possible cooperation programs for specialists in the IT sector and repressed artists of Belarus;
– was discussed the format of Belarus' participation in the Eastern Partnership Summit to be held this autumn. The question was raised that Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and representatives of Belarusian civil society must participate. Ms. Tsikhanouskaya stressed that the summit should take place without the participation of Lukashenka.
Prime Minister Janez Janša pointed out that the topic of Belarus is still on the agenda of the EU and that the Belarusian crisis will be discussed at the next meetings in Brussels. After the meeting, Mr. Jansa posted a tweet addressed to Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya: “We know the feelings of living in an undemocratic regime and the consequences of stolen elections. Keep fighting”.
