2 weeks ago
Belarus’ exiled guidance leader said Thursday that she hasn’t heard from her imprisoned hubby for 421 days.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said holding her hubby incommunicado is portion of nan government’s repressive policies.
BELARUS' AUTHORITARIAN LEADER TIGHTENS CONTROL OVER THE COUNTRY'S RELIGIOUS GROUPS
Siarhei Tsikhanouski has been down bars since being arrested successful 2020 aft announcing plans to situation Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko successful a ballot that year. After Tsikhanouski was arrested, his woman ran successful his stead arsenic nan main guidance campaigner but was forced by authorities to time off nan state aft nan election.
Tsikhanouski has been sentenced to 19 ½ years, and his woman said that by holding him incommunicado authorities are trying to "persuade Siarhei that everyone has forgotten him."
Belarusian guidance leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, center, holds a image of her jailed hubby Syarhey Tsikhanousky attending a protestation demanding state for governmental prisoners successful Belarus, successful beforehand of nan Belarus Embassy, successful Vilnius, Lithuania, Friday, March 8, 2024. Belarus’ exiled guidance leader said Thursday, May 2, 2024, that she hasn’t heard from her imprisoned hubby for 421 days. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)
"For much than a twelvemonth I don’t cognize astir Siarhei’s condition, I don’t cognize if he was allowed to person immoderate rate and whether he has immoderate toothpaste aliases toilet paper," she said.
Along pinch Tsikhanouski, respective apical guidance figures besides person been held incommunicado for much than a year.
They see Maria Kolesnikova, a starring guidance fig serving an 11-year situation condemnation who hasn’t been heard from for 443 days, Mikola Statkevich, an guidance activistic whose relatives haven’t heard from him for 448 days and lawyer Maxim Znak who has been held incommunicado for 449 days.
"It’s our work to speak loudly astir them and support them successful each imaginable way," Tsikhanouskaya said.
The August 2020 predetermination that handed Lukashenko his sixth word successful agency was denounced by nan West and nan guidance arsenic fraudulent and triggered a monolithic activity of protests. Authorities responded pinch a sweeping crackdown that saw 35,000 group arrested and thousands brutally beaten by police. Many apical guidance figures were arrested and fixed agelong situation terms, while others fled abroad.
The Belarusian authorities person ignored U.N. requests to supply accusation astir nan guidance activists who person been held incommunicado.
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Belarus’ starring quality authorities group Viasna counts astir 1,400 governmental prisoners successful nan country, including nan group’s founder, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski.
Viasna’s typical Pavel Sapelka said that holding guidance activists incommunicado was a "form of torture not only for nan governmental prisoners but their families." He described it arsenic portion of "strategy of punishing governmental opponents and concealing grounds of sadistic curen and torture."
