Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya has finished her visit to Italy. Main meetings and events
– Meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Luigi Di Maio, working consultations with the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs.
– Meetings with Labour Minister Andrea Orlando and European Affairs Minister Enzo Ameldona;
– Meeting with the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, participation in the Committee's hearing on International Relations of the Italian Parliament, chaired by Piero Fassino.
– Meeting with Virginia Raggi, Mayor of Rome.
– Meetings with leaders of Italian political parties and influential politicians in Italian foreign policy.
– Working consultations with heads and representatives of several diplomatic missions in Rome (UK, Lithuania, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, USA).
– Meeting with human rights defenders, Italian trade unions.
Main outcomes of the meetings and negotiations
– Italy confirmed the continuity of Rome’s position on non-recognition of the election results on August 9, 2020, and support for the fight of Belarusians for freedom.
– Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya called for immediate attention to the situation of political prisoners, conditions of imprisonment, lawless detentions, and trials.
– Leader of democratic Belarus called on Italian politicians to send letters to political prisoners and their families, organize rehabilitation programs for them, support independent media, telegram channels, samizdat initiatives, local communities, striking workers, students, artists, musicians.
– Discussed with official bodies, media, and analytical structures the formats and platforms for negotiations to resolve the crisis. Ms. Tsikhanouskaya discussed organizing a high-level international conference on resolving the crisis in Belarus and options for international mediation to start negotiations with democratic forces, including under the OSCE or a group of interested countries.
– The City of Rome will consider the proposal of the Belarusian leader to host the exhibition and hold a series of events dedicated to the events in Belarus.
– Italy is ready to support measures to increase pressure on the regime to stop repression and start negotiations, including through the application of “smart sanctions”, which will help exert maximum targeted pressure on the regime.
– Met with the Belarusian diaspora in Italy in Rome. Milan, Florence, Trieste, Naples, Padua, Verona – the cities from which the Belarusians came.
“At every meeting, I speak about political prisoners, our brave and courageous women, doctors, students, workers, and all who continue to fight in Belarus. Every city in Europe should know about our struggle, our pain, and our future victory. I want to tell all Belarusians that the whole world admires us”, – Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said.
Фото: Andrea Miconi
