Belarussian political prisoners need European Parliament support - Main contents
Today, on the occasion of the visit of Ales Bialiatski, a recently released political activist and Chairman of the Belarus Human Rights Centre "Viasna", Petras Auštrevičius MEP (Liberal Movement, Lithuania) and Hans Van Baalen MEP (VVD, Netherlands) commented:
"We welcome the recent release of Ales Bialiatski, probably the most prominent of the political prisoners still held behind bars in Belarus.
The individual case of Mr. Bialiatski and the continuous clamp down on civil society in Belarus require unwavering support from European politicians and leaders."
"Therefore, we are calling on the newly elected Members of the European Parliament and political groups in the European Parliament to adopt a political patronage for the humanitarian situation, legal rights and liberties of a political prisoner in Belarus. A symbolic gesture of this nature would go a long way to maintaining awareness of the destructive nature that the Lukashenko regime has on civil society in Belarus. Political patronage would also offer hope and lift the spirit of the families and relatives of those detained activists that often find themselves under pressure from the regime."