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Seimas Committee on Foreign Affairs reminded of the initiative of becoming patrons of Belarusian political prisoners and encouraged the public to join the campaigns of solidarity with Belarus
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February 05, 2021

Seimas Committee on Foreign Affairs reminded of the initiative of becoming patrons of Belarusian political prisoners and encouraged the public to join the campaigns of solidarity with Belarus

The Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, having regard to the invitation from Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, opposition leader of Belarus, to hold campaigns of solidarity with Belarus on 7 February 2021 marking the protests which have continued for half a year after the rigged presidential elections, has issued a Statement on Actions in Solidarity with the People of Belarus.

The Statement recalls the MP4Freedom (Parliamentarians for Freedom) initiative which has been implemented in the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania since 2014, whose basic idea is to allow Members of the Seimas to understand the scope and nature of the repression in Belarus through the personal experience of the political prisoners, whom parliamentarians undertook to take care of. According to human rights organisations, there are currently 226 political prisoners in Belarus who would appreciate personal attention and consideration for their fate.

Upon the invitation of Žygimantas Pavilionis, Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, who has long experience as a patron of a political prisoner, leader of the Christian Democratic Party of Belarus, Pavel Severynets, a group of Members of the Seimas of the 2020–2024 legislative term have recently joined this initiative:

 

Laima Liucija Andrikienė (patron of Katsiaryna Barysevich, tut.by journalist);

Dalia Asanavičiūtė (patron of Darya Chultsova, "Belsat TV" journalist);

Audronius Ažubalis (patron of Yuliya Slutskaya, founder of "Press Club Belarus");

Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen (patron of Ihar Losik, administrator of the telegram channel "Belarus of the brain");

Laurynas Kasčiūnas (patron of Eduard Palchys, blogger);

Raimundas Lopata (patron of Artsiom Takarchuk, architect);

Marius Matijošaitis (patron of  Ksenia Syramalot, student and spokeswoman for the Belarusian Students' Association, volunteer of the Human Rights Center "Viasna");

Rūta Miliūtė (patron of Marfa Rabkova, human rights activist, coordinator of Viasna's Volunteer Service);

Tomas Vytautas Raskevičius (patron of Mikalai Dziadok, blogger and activist of an anarchist movement);

Dovilė Šakalienė (patron of Maryia Kalesnikava, member of the presidium of the Coordination Council, head of the campaign headquarters of former presidential nominee Viktar Babaryka);

Emanuelis Zingeris (patron of Mikalai Statkevich, opposition politician, Social Demokrat).

 

Press release by Eglė Maželė, Adviser, Office of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Office of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, tel. +370 5 239 6835, e-mail: egle.mazele@lrs.lt

Photos by Olga Posaškova, Office of the Seimas

 

 

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