{"id":121656,"date":"2025-01-14T13:44:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-14T10:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/121656\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","slug":"cichanouskaja-in-the-netherlands-belarus-election-to-take-place-amid-reprisals","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/121656\/","title":{"rendered":"Cichano\u016dskaja in the Netherlands: Belarus election to take place amid reprisals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\n \u015aviat\u0142ana Cichano\u016dskaja meeting with Prime Minister Dick Schoof in The Hague \n <\/div>\n \n
\n (Cichano\u016dskaja\u2019s press office)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

January 14, Pozirk<\/em>.<\/strong> Belarusian opposition leader \u015aviat\u0142ana Cichano\u016dskaja met with Prime Minister Dick Schoof in The Hague yesterday to urge the Netherlands not to recognize the January 21-26 presidential election in Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belarus lacks conditions for democratic elections, while reprisals are intensifying during the orchestrated election campaign, she told Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp at a separate meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It is essential that free, fair and democratic election takes place [in Belarus],” Veldkamp said on X, urging Minsk to release political prisoners and promising support to rights defenders and independent media outlets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cichano\u016dskaja, who is on a three-day visit in the Netherlands, called for support of the victims of politically-motivated persecution in Belarus and for bringing officials to account for human rights abuses, her aide Franak Via\u010dorka told Pozirk<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOf course, we welcome the releases, but we must demand, first of all, ending the repression,\u201d the politician told the Dutch Helsinki Committee, commenting on the pardons for about 220 political prisoners amid intensified reprisals in the run-up to the presidential election. \u201cWithout ending repression, it will be a vicious circle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cichano\u016dskaja\u2019s visit also includes arrangements for a potential discussion of Belarus during the upcoming NATO summit in The Hague and at a meeting of European Union foreign ministers scheduled for January 26-27.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The politician argued that negotiators at eventual peace talks on Ukraine should demand the withdrawal of Russian troops from Belarus. She also discussed the legalization of Belarusians in the Netherlands, as many face difficulties following Minsk’s refusal to issue ID documents abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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