On the sidelines of the OSCE conference in Helsinki, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya met with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk. They discussed communication with the authorities in Minsk regarding the release of political prisoners, a possible visit by the Commissioner to the region, and United States’ efforts toward humanitarian releases, including that of Siarhei Tsikhanouski.
Ms. Tsikhanouskaya emphasized the need for the immediate release of Ales Bialiatski and other Belarusian human rights defenders who are still behind bars. She stressed the important role of the UN in facilitating humanitarian releases and called for continued efforts.
Mr. Türk and Ms. Tsikhanouskaya’s previous meeting took place in February at the Munich Security Conference. The Belarusian leader called on the Commissioner to focus on the release of political prisoners during a visit to Minsk.
