Dear Ms Margareta Cederfelt,
Dear Mr Björn Söder,
Dear Mr Markus Wiechel,
Dear members of PA OSCE and PACE delegations,
Dear friends,
As you know, I came here to the beautiful city of Stockholm to receive the Anna Lindh prize. But this prize is not for me, it’s for all Belarusians resisting the tyranny of Putin and Lukashenka. Anna Lindh was a decent person and stateswoman. She believed in freedom, human rights and justice. In Belarus, we are fighting the values that were so important for Anna Lindh.
I want to thank each of you for standing with us in such a challenging time. Thank you for your resolutions, one in Strasbourg adopted by PACE, another one in Vancouver. Now we have to think about how to implement them. How to help Belarusians in exile and how to defend our independence and sovereignty.
I wish to say that the situation got better, but it’s not. More political prisoners. Harsher conditions in prison. Reportedly, Russian nuclear weapons are deployed already. Up to 2000 Russian troops remain in Belarus though Wagner's existence after the death of Prigozhin is under question.
Lukashenka is repressing not only people inside the country, but also those in exile. Last week, Lukashenka prohibited his embassies from renewing Belarusian passports abroad. This will leave hundreds of thousands of people without a national passport, in case they don’t go back to Belarus to receive a new one. They will face persecution for their political views, which is why they left Belarus in the first place.
It’s Lukashenka’s personal revenge on Belarusians who rose up against him in 2020. And it makes our situation dramatically worse. Every day I am receiving hundreds of requests of help, from both people in and outside the country. And I need your help in answering them.
- First, I encourage you to find a way for the practical implementation of PACE resolution, especially points 23 and 24, in Sweden.
- Second, there must be ways to legalize Belarusian citizens abroad without turning to Lukashenkas’ official structures. Such a way can be the official recognition of the New Belarusian passport by Swedish authorities. We plan to start issuing alternative documents already next year so people don’t stay without documents. Our new passport will confirm that this person is a Belarusian citizen living in exile.
- Third, endorse the proceeding against Lukashenka in international and national courts. Lukashenka is suspected of ordering the kidnapping and killing of four of his political opponents in 1999. It was documented in a PACE report from 2004. Recently, the case was open in a Swiss court with Yury Harauski, a member of Lukashenka’s “death squad”. It’s an important precedent. We expect justice to prevail, and new cases against Lukashenka’s cronies to be opened in European courts. Many people died in Lukashenka’s prisons. Besides, there is evidence that Belarus authorities took part in the illegal kidnapping of Ukrainian orphans from Russia-occupied territories.
I also ask MPs to join the Libereco campaign of becoming symbolic godparents for Belarusian political prisoners. There are at least fifteen hundred of them, and only 390 have European MPs as godparents. You can tweet about them, write to their families. It’s five minutes of your time but great support for those behind bars.
I also hope to receive an invitation to speak at the traditional PA OSCE Winter meeting, which will take place in February in Vienna. PA OSCE should declare that it won’t recognize staged parliamentary elections in Belarus which Lukashenka plans to hold on February 25th.
Dear friends, let me emphasize how grateful I am. Swedish parliamentarians are standing with us – at every event, et every forum. We see and feel it. And we will never forget it.
Thank you very much.
