Opposition leader asks Switzerland to facilitate release of Belarusian political prisoners

January 19, BPN. Belarusian opposition leader Sviatłana Cichanoŭskaja asked Martin Candinas, president of the Swiss National Council, for assistance in securing the release of Belarusian political prisoners.

In February 2022, Switzerland persuaded Minsk to release Natalla Hersche, a Belarus-born Swiss national imprisoned on politically-motivated charges.

Cichanoŭskaja also asked Switzerland to help Belarusians persecuted in politically-motivated cases and to consider joining sanctions against Belarusian officials and police officers responsible for human rights abuses and supporting the war in Ukraine.

The politicians also discussed establishing a parliamentary group of friends of Belarus in the Swiss parliament.

Cichanoŭskaja discussed possible support for Belarusian projects with Paweł Surówka, CEO of Poland’s Eurocash. These projects would focus on victims of human rights abuses and Belarusian volunteers fighting Russia in Ukraine, the politician’s office told BPN.

The opposition leader briefly met Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko and thanked him for renaming one of Kyiv’s streets after Belarusian 19th-century hero Kastuś Kalinoŭski, she tweeted.

On the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, Cichanoŭskaja also met Moldovan President Maia Sandu, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo as well as Gilbert Houngbo, head of the International Labor Organization.