Opposition leader asks Italian senators to help bring Łukašenka to justice

July 6, BPN. Belarusian opposition leader Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja asked the Italian Senate to assist in setting up a tribunal to ensure Alaksandr Łukašenka’s accountability, her aide Franak Viačorka told BPN.

“It’s time to recognize Łukašenka’s regime as terrorist,” she told the Italian Senate’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. The politician called for “devastating sanctions” against Łukašenka’s and Vladimir Putin’s regimes for waging war against Ukraine and undermining Belarusian sovereignty.

“We have to bring all perpetrators to justice,” she noted. “We just got evidence that Łukašenka’s regime was involved in deportation of Ukrainian orphans from occupied parts of Ukraine to Belarus. Just a few months ago, the International Criminal Court issued a warrant to arrest Putin. The same should be done for Łukašenka and his cronies.”

Cichanoŭskaja asked Italian senators to support the Belarusian opposition in the parliamentary assemblies of the Council of Europe, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and NATO. “We need the world to speak in one voice for free, independent and European Belarus,” she stressed.

Commenting on the establishment of the parliamentary group For Democratic Belarus, the politician expressed hope that it would “unite representatives of both chambers and various political parties, governing and opposition alike.”

The politician also called for support for the Belarusian language, culture and people-to-people contacts. “If you see the opportunity to invite Belarusian writers, artists, or scholars to events or fellowships – it would be your contribution to the future European Belarus,” she noted.

“Russia doesn’t see either Belarus or Ukraine as independent countries, and their only goal is to colonize us,” Cichanoŭskaja stressed. “Russia is afraid that Belarus and Ukraine will become European democratic countries. And it conducts the war against us, our identity and values, though with different means.”

Cichanoŭskaja is on official visit to Italy from July 5 to 7.