Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya's visit to the Czech Republic ended, during which Belarusian leader met with President Milos Zeman, Prime Minister Andrei Babish, Foreign Minister Jakub Kulganek and addressed the Czech Senate. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya also met with Belarusians who had been victims of torture and violence by security forces and were undergoing rehabilitation in the Czech Republic.
The visit was prepared as a state visit, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya was designated as the leader of Belarus. President Milos Zeman expressed his desire to see Tikhanovskaya as the next President of Belarus and noted that the question of Belarus was the only one in which all Czech political forces were united.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya agreed on:
– expansion of the programme for the rehabilitation of the repressed and wounded;
– possibilities for families of political prisoners to come to temporary rehabilitation;
– scholarships and internships for Belarusian students and specialists who wish to work in the new Belarus (temporary internships of one to two months);
– czech universities are willing to increase the number of scholarships for Belarusian students;
– the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs will support 4 and 5 sanctions against Lukashenka’s accomplices.
During the working meetings, the participants discussed the expansion of assistance to civil initiatives and the media, both traditional and new – YouTube – and telegram channels, as well as support to the Belarusian diaspora and the establishment of the Office of Democratic Belarus in Prague. He will represent the interests of a free Belarus and negotiate with the Czech government.
In her address to the Senate and the Czech people, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya called for the development of cultural projects and support for the establishment of an international tribunal to investigate the crimes of the Lukashenka regime.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya: “This visit will help Belarus in the present and in the future. We are already building friendly, partnership relations with the Czech Republic at the level of public initiatives, business communities, and, of course, politicians. The Czech Republic has been and will continue to be our ally in the struggle for freedom and democracy. Here, more than anywhere else, human rights are understood. Every Czech family can write letters to political prisoners – in fact in the homeland of Václav Havela perfectly understand how important it is for those who have been imprisoned for their will to freedom”.
