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  • Press briefing of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, June 2

    June 02, 2021

    “The regime is killing people both on streets and in prisons. Two weeks ago, we lost Vitold Ashurak. A week ago 18 years old Dzmitry Stakhouski committed suicide, unable to withstand the pressure of interrogations. Yesterday, the fact that Stsiapan Latypau tried to cut his throat and wrists in the courtroom paralyzed Belarusians with horror. 51 days before that, Latypau was placed in the “press-hata”. This is a soundproof room for torture – or an ordinary cell turned into a torture chamber where the guards turn music loudly so no one can hear the person suffers, being mentally or physically destroyed.

    We only know what happened to Stepan because he could tell us the truth at the cost of his cut veins during the trial. But we don’t know what is happening to Raman Pratasevich and Sofia Sapega. We are in touch with Raman's parents, and we have grounds to believe that the testimony is being forcibly extracted from him. For the same reasons, we don’t know what happens to more than 450 political prisoners and thousands of people who are in prison but have not yet been recognized as prisoners of conscience.

    Therefore, every day, my team and all democratic forces work to stop this violence, release innocent people, and hold new presidential elections in Belarus.

    Yesterday, by my team initiative, the International Conference “Democratic Elections for Resolution of Crisis in Belarus” has started. Representatives of the European Parliament, the US Mission to the OSCE, and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly agree that only elections will help solve the crisis in our country comprehensively. Today is the second day of the Conference – with the moderation of my special representative for elections Aliaksandr Shlyk, representatives of the Central elections committees of different countries, will discuss the ways to carry out short- and long-term reforms of the electoral processes in Belarus.

    In recent days, I held a meeting with the Prime Minister of the Netherlands in the Hague, President and Prime Minister of Estonia, and met with US senators who arrived in Vilnius and expressed the support of the US people of both parties for Belarus. Yesterday, I met with the adviser to the President of Poland, Krzysztof Szczerski, and the head of the National Security Bureau of Poland. We discussed the issue of the security of Belarusians living in the EU. Immediately after the incident with Latypau, I received a phone call from Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz – we discussed what could be done to stop violence and tortures in prisons. 

    We will seek recognition of Lukashenka's regime as a criminal and terrorist. We remain in touch with international lawyers who help us prepare documents to launch an international investigation of the numerous facts of crimes against humanity committed by the regime. We welcome the launch of an investigation of the hijacking of the plane – by doing so, the regime violated the Chicago and Montreal Conventions on Air Transport.

    Since the plane's hijacking, we have heard the same thing from all international partners: the time for statements has passed, the time for action has come. They are ready to introduce the 4th and consider the 5th packages of sanctions, terminate contracts with the regime, completely isolate it politically and economically. And at the same time – to increase the support of the Belarusians themselves. A clear sign that Europe is closing all doors to Lukashenko was the recently approved EU comprehensive Plan for Belarus. It includes $ 10 billion in aid for the first years of the development of the new Belarus. I thank the head of the European Commission personally, Ursula von der Leyen, Poland, Lithuania, and all the countries that helped and supported this Plan. I am personally very happy that part of this program will be sent on helping the participants of the strike movement and Belarusians and businesses who suffered because of their protest. My representative for economics, Ales Aliakhnovich, has published a draft program of support to the repressed Belarusians – and this is an incredibly important document since the number of victims is growing every day and every hour because of the regime's actions.

    Despite this, the protest of Belarusians continues. The situation analysis center based at ByPol has launched the Peramoha mobilization plan. This plan, implemented via a chatbot, will answer the main requests of the society: how to restore the mass character of our actions; how to mobilize the skills of people for the benefit of the protest; how to save our resources, use them effectively and at the right time.

    Tomorrow, I am having a visit to Warsaw to hold high-level meetings, and next week – there are visits to Prague and Berlin. In June, I plan to take part in the Council of Foreign Ministers of the European Union in Luxembourg and the hearings of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US Senate. Me and my team, all democratic forces and all Belarusians will continue to do everything we can to make sure that these terrible times in our country will come to an end and never happen again”.

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