Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya continues her working visit to Norway. One of the key meetings took place in the Storting, the Norwegian Parliament, where the leader delivered a speech and participated in a seminar on political prisoners in Europe. The seminar attracted over 100 participants, including members of parliaments, government officials, human rights defenders, and journalists from several countries, including Belarus, Serbia, Georgia, Ukraine, and Azerbaijan.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya highlighted the harsh conditions faced by political prisoners in Belarus, including psychological and physical torture. She called for international support for Belarus and continued pressure on the regime. She also stressed that the recent pardoning of some political prisoners is not a genuine change in the regime’s policy but rather a political maneuver.
Ms. Tsikhanouskaya proposed specific steps to parliaments to support democratic change in Belarus:
📌 Delegitimizing Lukashenka’s 2025 sham election.
📌 Preparing resolutions in international parliamentary organizations such as PACE, OSCE, and NATO.
📌 Supporting Belarusians in exile.
📌 Establishing cooperation agreements between the democratic forces of Belarus and the Norwegian Parliament.
📌 Providing expert assessments of laws developed for the new Belarus, as well as adopting statements and holding hearings on Belarus.
📌 Assisting the Belarusian diaspora in addressing the issues it faces, including through holding hearings on migration issues and working meetings with representatives of Belarusian organizations and the diaspora.
📌 Internships for Belarusians.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya: “Let me thank the Norwegian Storting for gathering us today to discuss so urgent and so painful a topic as political prisoners. Political prisoners are our heroes, and we must fight for their release. But no fight for freedom can be won without allies. And many are in this room. I want to thank Norway, the Norwegian people, and the Government for standing with us on this path”.
