Political prisoners in Belarus need solidarity and constant attention, Natalia Pinchuk, the wife of imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski, said in Vilnius on Friday.
“Showing solidarity is the most important thing. How to do this, what concrete actions to take, the [Lithuanian] politicians will look for the most effective mechanisms to support the Belarusians, to protect their rights and freedoms,” she told reporters after meeting with Parliament Speaker Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen.
She said she had seen her husband once over the past 18 months since his detention in November 2022. The visit lasted an hour and since then Bialiatski and Pinchuk have been communicating via letters.
“Information about him is very scanty. [...] We keep in touch by exchanging letters, but the exchange is not always regular as letters disappear sometimes. Also, he’s not allowed to write about his prison conditions in his letters, nor is he allowed to write about the international or political situation. In principle, he is only allowed to write about domestic issues. Even then, not all his letters reach the addressee,” Pinchuk said.
She hopes her husband’s imprisonment will help to raise international awareness and alleviate the situation of all political prisoners in Belarus.
When meeting with foreign politicians, Pinchuk wants to draw attention to the “tragic, difficult situation the Belarusian people are currently living in”.
“In this case, a distinction must be made between the Belarusian people and the Belarusian authorities. The people of Belarus unequivocally spoke out for a free and democratic future in 2020. But that hope was crushed. And today, the slightest aspiration for freedom is being suppressed in the country, and people are being punished harshly for every word,” she said.
“My biggest wish is for the world to know what is happening in Belarus, about the terror against its own people,” Pinchuk said.
In her words, the people of Belarus support the Ukrainians as they fight against Russian aggression.
In early March, a Minsk court sentenced Bialiatski, 60, to ten years in prison for alleged smuggling and “activity that seriously violate public order”.
Bialiatski was accused of smuggling cash into Belarus, allegedly to finance opposition activities. His associates Valiantsin Stefanovich and Uladzimir Labkovich, who were also defendants in this case, were issued prison sentences of nine and seven years respectively.
The three opposition figures were detained in July 2021. None of them pleaded guilty.
The sentences were condemned by Western governments s politically motivated.
Bialiatski was one of the three winners of last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, along with Russian and Ukrainian human rights groups.
According to the rights group Viasna, there are currently 1,454 political prisoners in Belarus.
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