Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s Advisor on Legal Affairs, Kristina Rikhter, spoke at the “Give a Voice to the Victims” event in Geneva. It was organized by the Permanent Mission of Lithuania to the UN and supported by the Permanent Mission of Poland. The side event during the 55th session of the Human Rights Council was dedicated to the people affected by political repression in Belarus.
In her speech, Kristina Rikhter focused on the issue of the incommunicado detention of political prisoners by the Lukashenka regime. She stressed that Siarhei Tsikhanouski, Viktar Babaryka, Maksim Znak, Maryia Kalesnikava, and Mikalai Statkevich have been denied correspondence, access to lawyers, and quality medical assistance for a year now. Ms. Rikhter emphasized that the urgent protection measures demanded by the Human Rights Committee in defense of Tsikhanouski, Babaryka, and Znak have been ignored. The advisor called on the international community to use diplomatic channels to pressure the Lukashenka regime to provide access for families to the detainees and ensure that political prisoners can exercise their rights to medical and legal assistance.
“We must make sure that political prisoners held incommunicado are alive. We must ensure that they receive medical and legal assistance. Ask the regime where Siarhei Tsikhanouski, Viktar Babaryka, Maryia Kalesnikava, Mikalai Statkevich, and Maksim Znak are. Demand meetings with them. Repeat the question so many times it can no longer be ignored”, Kristina Rikhter urged international partners.
Besides Kristina Rikhter, the event was joined by the Head of the Legal Initiative NGO, Viktoryia Fiodarava, representative of the human rights center “Viasna”, Kanstantsin Staradubets, international lawyer and expert of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, Katsiaryna Deykala, as well as the Project Director at Freedom House in Lithuania, Vytis Jurkonis.
