Opposition leader lauds Belarusians defending freedom, human dignity

November 18, BPN. Anyone who takes the side of the good risks everything, but it is the right choice, Belarusian opposition leader Sviatłana Cichanoŭskaja said in her speech at the Memory of the Nation Awards ceremony in Prague, her press office told BPN.

“Today, people who love Belarus with all their hearts suffer in Belarusian prisons,” she noted. “They are tortured by those who do not know how to love. People who love Ukraine with all their hearts are dying at the hands of invaders who do not know the feelings of mercy, duty or officer’s honor.”

Cichanoŭskaja also told the life story of Belarusian poet Łarysa Henijuš who lived in exile in Prague from 1935 until her arrest by the Soviet secret services in 1948.

“The great stories of struggle for freedom are always a sum of small personal stories of resistance,” the politician said. “These are stories of broken lives and human suffering as well as stories of human dignity.”

Cichanoŭskaja arrived in Prague on the eve of Struggle for Freedom and Democracy Day, November 17. During her two-day visit, she was scheduled to meet with Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala and the leaders of both chambers of the Czech parliament, Miloš Vystrčil and Markéta Pekarová Adamová.