March 3, Pozirk. Pavieł Sieviaryniec, a prominent Christian Democratic politician released from Belarusian prison in December in a deal between Minsk and Washington, has been elected as head of the organizing committee for celebrations of Dzień Voli (Freedom Day), an anniversary of Belarus’ short-lived independence in 1918, reported the office of Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja.
The organizing committee will coordinate and support events that will be organized by Belarusian communities across the globe. Taking part in the voting were activists from the United Transitional Cabinet, Cichanoŭskaja’s office, political parties and co-organizers of events in Vilnius and Warsaw.
Dzień Voli is the biggest annual event of Belarus’ opposition that it marked by staging street demonstrations and marches in Minsk and other cities before 2020. The government crushed and outlawed the domestic opposition after the 2020 postelection protests, forcing its leaders and activists into exile. Minsk suppresses any attempts to publicly celebrate anniversaries of the Belarusian People’s Republic (BNR) inside the country and has declared the BNR Rada (council) in exile an extremist group.
