{"id":129228,"date":"2025-03-09T19:20:40","date_gmt":"2025-03-09T16:20:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/129228\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","slug":"opposition-leader-calls-on-un-hrc-to-demand-access-to-belarusian-prisons","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/129228\/","title":{"rendered":"Opposition leader calls on UN HRC to demand access to Belarusian prisons"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\n Rally in support of Belarusian political prisoners. Vilnius, March 9, 2025\n <\/div>\n \n
\n (Pozirk)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

March 9, Pozirk<\/em>. <\/strong>Belarusian opposition leader \u015aviat\u0142ana Cichano\u016dskaja has appealed to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UN HRC) to demand access to Belarusian prisons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou have all the mechanisms to demand access,\u201d she said today at a rally near the Belarusian embassy in Vilnius. “The regime claims it has nothing to hide? Let the UN mission visit those who are held in isolation, who have not been heard from for two years. Didn’t [Foreign Minister Maksim] Ry\u017eanko\u016d invite you to Belarus? Let him show you political prisoners, let him release [Nobel Peace Prize winner] Ale\u015b Bialacki and stop endless trials.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recent report by the Viasna Human Rights Center based on eyewitnesses\u2019 testimonies highlighted ill-treatment of women in Belarusian prisons, citing cases of abuse, bullying, insults and threats, including sexual harassment and violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The politician urged democratic countries’ governments to sanction those \u201cresponsible for torture,\u201d listing judges, prosecutors and prison wardens. “Let each of them know that there will be no impunity,” she stressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cichano\u016dskaja’s husband, former presidential hopeful Siarhiej Cichano\u016dski, has been held incommunicado for two years. “I cannot accept that a person can disappear in this manner in the center of Europe in the 21st century and his family cannot do anything about it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least eight other prisoners are reportedly in the same situation, which the UN considers to be an enforced disappearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cichano\u016dskaja urged Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka to show a proof of readiness for a dialogue by ending the incommunicado detention of these prisoners and allowing lawyers to see them and families to contact them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of March 9, human rights defenders identified at least 1,219 political prisoners but the real number is considerably higher because many cases go undocumented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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