MOSCOW (dpa-AFX) - 36 countries have called for immediate and unconditional release of political prisoners in Belarus.
On May 21, 2021, Belarusian activist Vitold Ashurak died in prison while serving a five-year sentence for participating in peaceful protests against his country's fraudulent 2020 presidential elections. Since then, at least five more political prisoners have died in places of detention across Belarus: Mikalai Klimovich, Ales Pushkin, Vadzim Khrasko, Ihar Lednik, and, just last month, Aliaksandr Kulinich.
To bring attention to these deaths, the Informal Group of Friends of Democratic Belarus mark May 21 as the International Day of Solidarity with Political Prisoners in Belarus. According to the Viasna Human Rights Center, all six of these men - imprisoned on spurious charges simply for opposing or satirizing Belarusian authorities or making donations to opposition groups - received untimely or inadequate medical care in detention.
Latvian Ambassador to the UN and OSCE, Katrina Kaktina called for the immediate and unconditional release of around 1,400 political prisoners and a large-scale reform of existing laws to end systemic political repression in Belarus.
She made the call on behalf of Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States and Latvia.
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