In Bern, Switzerland, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya met with the President of the Swiss National Council Andreas Aebi, the Head of the Human Security Division at the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) Simon Geissbühler, and members of the Swiss Foreign Affairs Committee.
At the meetings, the democratic leader of Belarus:
– thanked Switzerland for its solidarity with Belarus and its support of the EU sanctions already imposed against the Lukashenka regime;
– spoke about the political repressions in Belarus and informed of the situation with the political prisoner Natallia Hersche, a Swiss-Belarusian dual citizen. On February 22, Natallia Hersche went on a hunger strike, and – as no correspondence is delivered to her or from her – no one knows what condition she is currently in. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya called on Switzerland to take more actions for the release and rehabilitation of Hersche. Tsikhanouskaya thanked the Swiss Ambassador to Belarus Claude Altermatt for his active position, especially for attending the trials of Hersche and visiting her in prison;
– called on Switzerland to support all repressed Belarusians, independent media, and civil society of Belarus;
– proposed to the Swiss government and parliament to simplify the conditions for the relocation of Belarusian private businesses to Switzerland – the IT and transport sectors in particular;
– called for joining the third package of EU sanctions, supporting the US sanctions that provide for restrictions on entry, blocking of financial property and bank accounts;
– informed that the new election in Belarus must be held in the autumn of this year under the international supervision of the OSCE. Tsikhanouskaya also stressed that negotiations should be organized with Belarus democratic community’s participation, with the mediation of Europe and Russia. The Swiss side is ready to support the organization of these negotiations;
– stressed the importance of Switzerland launching an investigation into money laundering by Belarusian officials who may have accounts in Switzerland. Transparency is important in the case of such assets;
– called on Switzerland to investigate the possibility of finding Lukashenka’s assets and his ‘wallets’ in the country, to collect information on whether Swiss banks block such accounts. The leader of democratic Belarus also urged the clients of the Swiss banks not to purchase state bonds issued by the government of Belarus;
– discussed how Switzerland could participate and support the UN mechanism for investigating and documenting crimes against human rights in Belarus with the politicians. A resolution is going be adopted in the coming week, and Switzerland is ready to support its implementation politically;
– thanked Switzerland for its help with the cancellation of the World Ice Hockey Championship in Minsk, as well as for the approval by the IOC of the illegitimacy of Viktar Lukashenka as the new chairman of the NOC of Belarus and Dzmitry Baskau as a member of the executive committee. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya stressed that it is necessary to impose more sanctions against the NOC of Belarus because of the ongoing repressions against athletes, as well as to continue the investigation into Dzmitry Baskau.
“The release of Natallia Hersche should be a priority for Switzerland. Today there are 269 political prisoners in Belarus, and each of them, like Natallia, should be free and not repressed for exercising their civil rights”, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said.
