On March 25, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya took part in the celebration of Freedom Day in Washington, D.C. She spoke at a rally outside the White House, calling on Belarusians not to give up and to continue the fight to free all political prisoners and bring the country to freedom and democracy. In her speech, Ms. Tsikhanouskaya also expressed gratitude to the United States for its support and stressed that Belarusians have heroes who have shown that the fight for freedom is a global cause. She mentioned Tadevush Kastsiushka, whose monument is located in the square where the rally took place. She also mentioned Belarusian political prisoners, volunteer fighters, and partisans who stop military equipment and show that Belarusians and the regime are not the same.
“For their dream of a free Belarus, many Belarusian Democratic Republic figures paid with their lives and freedom. Belarusians in Belarus and Ukraine pay this high price too. Our political prisoners, our partisans, and our fighters epitomize our honor and conscience. They are thousands of heroes of the future free Belarus”, said the leader of the Belarusian people.
Representatives of the American-Ukrainian Association, the US State Department, and the US Senate, as well as representatives of the Ukrainian, Lithuanian, and Latvian diasporas also took part in the rally. Overall, several hundred people joined the event to celebrate Freedom Day.
After the rally, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, along with ambassadors from Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, and a representative from Poland, laid flowers at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation Memorial statue. In her speech, she pledged to do everything to ensure that the horrors of Stalinist repressions and deportations never happen again. She urged to remember and call out the names of the victims, as well as the names of the perpetrators and criminals so that their crimes do not go unpunished.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya gave interviews to Fox News, Washington Examiner, Christian Science Monitor, Imedi, Voice of America, and YAHOO.news.
