Dear Excellencies, dear friends,
First, I would like to honor the memory of Mikita Melkaziorau. Yesterday, Belarus lost a great son, a talented journalist who worked tirelessly for Belarus and continuously raised the issue of political prisoners. This is a great loss for the Belarusian people. We will all miss you, Mikita. Rest in peace.
I welcome all the released political prisoners today and thank you for your courage, resilience, and standing with us. I want to express my gratitude to everyone who contributed to these releases – first and foremost to US President Donald Trump, Special Envoy John Coale, Christopher Smith, and the American diplomats for an extraordinary humanitarian operation. What happened was the release of political hostages. But our next task is to secure the freedom of everyone who remains imprisoned.
I also thank the European Union and all the countries that, over the years, have taken a principled and consistent stand for the release of political prisoners. These releases would not have been possible without European pressure and American diplomacy.
As you know, of the 123 people released, 87 arrived in Poland, 2 in Germany, and 28 in Lithuania – including those who arrived via Ukraine. In addition, seven people with foreign or dual citizenship were taken to Lithuania and are now under the care of their respective countries. Transporting such a large group through Ukraine was unexpected, but Ukraine received them warmly and provided maximum assistance.
I want to thank the Ukrainian side – first of all the Office of the President of Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy personally, the Main Intelligence Directorate and Kyrylo Budanov, as well as Ukrainian civil society. Ukraine, which itself is at war, demonstrated an extraordinary level of solidarity.
We faced a difficult task: to bring the released people into the European Union, where assistance had already been prepared. I want to especially acknowledge the support of Poland, Lithuania, the United States, and of course Ukraine. This was particularly challenging because 20 people were transferred without any documents.
Here in Lithuania, the released people have already received basic assistance and are preparing for the residence legalization process. We see and deeply appreciate Lithuania’s support. Both in Lithuania and in Poland, we have created systems to receive and support the released political prisoners.
I would like to especially recognize the work of Belarusian initiatives, volunteers, human rights defenders, and international partners – in particular Freedom House, the International Humanitarian Fund, Viasna, A Country to Live In, Volnyja, BYSOL, Dissident.by, the Belarusian Human Rights House, the Belarusian Passport Center, the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), and the Lithuanian Red Cross. This was our first experience of such close cooperation.
I thank the United Transitional Cabinet and Volha Zazulinskaya, who coordinated much of this work, as well as Sviatlana Shatsilina, Head of our Mission in Kyiv, who accompanied the released people all the way to Vilnius.
In just two days, Belarusians raised over €250,000 in support for those released. I am deeply moved by this level of solidarity. These funds will help provide people with essential support – but even this is not enough. We call on our international partners to increase assistance to the victims of repression through the International Humanitarian Fund and Belarusian human rights organizations.
We are very happy to see people free, and we welcome this step by the regime. But we do not forget that more than 1,100 political prisoners are still behind bars, including Andrzej Poczobut, Valiantsin Stefanovich, Marfa Rabkova, Mikalai Statkevich, Katsiaryna Andreyeva, and hundreds of others. New political prisoners continue to appear; the machine of repression continues and is intensifying.
We demand the full and unconditional release of all political prisoners and, most importantly, an end to repression. All politically motivated criminal cases must be closed. Those who have been released must have the right to choose whether to stay or to leave, and those who are already in exile must be able to return home safely.
We will continue working with international partners to achieve these goals. Pressure and sanctions on the regime must remain in place as long as repression and terror against Belarusians continue and as long as the regime remains complicit in the criminal war against Ukraine and conducts hybrid attacks on our neighbors, Lithuania and Poland.
Finally, I want to thank members of the press who consistently raise the issue of political prisoners. Thank you for your work. The more we speak about people in prison, the sooner we will see everyone released.
Thank you.
