On February 4, the anniversary of the birth of Tadeusz Kościuszko, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya spoke at the international conference on the memory and heritage of Kościuszko. She called Kościuszko a hero and said that she considered every Belarusian a hero.
“Did Kościuszko consider himself a hero? Do people consider themselves heroes? More than 32,000 Belarusians have been detained for wanting to be heard. Thousands have been tortured, thousands have fled the country, more than 220 are recognized as political prisoners, eight people killed. All of them are my heroes.
29-year-old trucker Dmitrij Dubkov turned the car on August 10 so that the OMON needed more time to reach the site of peaceful protests in the middle of the night. Such stories about injustice are common in Belarus. Can you imagine being so easily deprived of your liberty?
In Belarus, the phrase “human rights” is never mentioned in the Constitution. Every human rights activist, every speaker at this conference, every journalist working on the establishment of human rights in Belarus, every person who comes to a peaceful protest of Belarus, I consider a hero. I encourage all of us to be heroes. At the moment, this means helping Belarus: we need your passion for justice.”
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya urged the guests of the forum to join the International Day of Solidarity with Belarus, which will be held on February 7.
