"With 300,000 Belarusians living in Poland, you are also affected by Lukashenko's repressions. Join us in restoring justice," Tsikhanouskaya appealed, following Lithuania's submission of evidence to the International Criminal Court (ICC) against the Belarusian regime.
After the fraudulent 2020 Belarusian presidential elections, Lukashenko's government intensified its crackdown on the opposition and civil society, resulting in mass arrests, torture, and forced exile of thousands. In response, Belarusian democratic forces, led by Tsikhanouskaya, began compiling evidence of these crimes, hoping to bring Lukashenko and his collaborators to justice.
In October 2024, Lithuania submitted evidence to the ICC, documenting cross-border crimes by the Belarusian regime, including the forced deportation of Belarusians. Speaking to Polish Press Agency, Tsikhanouskaya expressed her gratitude to Lithuania for taking this crucial step and urged Poland to join the initiative.
"Poland has become a safe haven for hundreds of thousands of political prisoners. You provide our activists with support to continue their fight," Tsikhanouskaya said. However, she stressed that Poland too is impacted by the regime, given the large Belarusian diaspora within its borders. "We cannot bring justice to Belarus right now, so we rely on international organizations," she added.
Tsikhanouskaya also referenced Andrzej Poczobut, a Polish-Belarusian journalist and activist, as a symbol of resistance to Lukashenko’s regime. Poczobut was sentenced in 2023 to eight years in a high-security prison on politically motivated charges, becoming one of many political prisoners, including Tsikhanouskaya’s husband, who has been in prison for over 500 days without contact. "Lukashenko uses these people as hostages, a cheap bargaining tool," she said.
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Source: PAP