Two EU lawmakers call on Minsk to stop reprisals and free political prisoners

January 31, Pozirk. MEP Juozas Olekas, chairman of the delegation for relations with Belarus, and MEP Petras Auštravičius, standing rapporteur on Belarus, have called on the Belarusian government “to immediately cease all repression, persecutions and arbitrary detentions of Belarusian people, to immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners and their family members and to abide by its international obligations.”

In a statement today, they said they were shocked by “gender-based targeting” and called for the “immediate and unconditional release of arrested women and other family members of political prisoners.”

“The recent raids and searches at the houses of political prisoners by the regime’s security apparatus resulted in more than 200 arrests,” the deputies said. “Majority of the arrested are women, wives and mothers of political prisoners.”

The MEPs called on the West to respond to these “criminal acts” and a case against the so-called Cichanoŭskaja analysts, who face criminal charges, with “increased pressure on the regime in the form of sanctions.”

On January 13, Belarusian opposition leader Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja discussed assistance for Belarusian political prisoners with European Parliament President Roberta Metsola at their meeting in Vilnius.

Cichanoŭskaja proposed a separate sanctions package targeting persons involved in the politically motivated persecution of dissenters in Belarus, as well as companies that use forced labor of convicts. Many of these companies export their products to the European Union, Cichanoŭskaja said.