Tens of thousands sign petition to free Bialacki, to be passed to Belarus’ diplomats in Germany

November 10, BPN. Some 80,000 people have signed a petition demanding that Aleś Bialacki and other Belarusian political prisoners should be freed. The campaign was initiated by German-Swiss human rights organization Libereco.

The petition was published in October. When the number of signatures reaches 100,000, Libereco would pass it to Belarusian Ambassador to Germany Dzianis Sidarenka and the honorary consuls, René Schröder (Hamburg) and Frank Kossick (Cottbus).

The petitioners call on Belarus to stop the intimidation, persecution and arrests of peaceful protesters, opposition activists, human rights advocates, students and journalists.

Bialacki, his deputy Valancin Stefanovič and coordinator of the Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections campaign Uładzimir Łabkovič were arrested in July 2021 on tax evasion charges.

The charges were dropped in September 2022, only to be followed by accusations of smuggling and training protesters.

Last October, Bialacki won the Nobel Peace Prize.