Today is 37th Day of Belarusian Solidarity

16.10.2008, 8:48

Today marks three years since rallies of solidarity with families of abducted and repressed activists of Belarusian opposition started. Today solidarity rallies are to be held by tradition in Minsk and many cities of Belarus by activists of youth organisations “Jeans for Freedom”, “Young Front”, “Young Belarus”, oppositional political parties.

For three years in Minsk, in regions and abroad people gather in the streets and urge the Belarusian regime to stop repressions against the opposition and start political reforms in the country. For instance, today in Salihorsk people with portraits of political prisoners and disappeared are to gather on the square again.

“At such rallies we demand release of political prisoners and vindication of former prisoners of conscience, and are convinced that opposition activists convicted in the Process of Fourteen should be considered political prisoners, as restraint of liberty is one of the elements of pressure and political persecution too,” Radio Svaboda was told by the leader of Salihorsk “Young Front” Ivan Shyla.

“Dozens and maybe hundreds of Belarusians will come to the central square of Minsk, and once again they will honour the memory of those who had disappeared or suffer for their convictions. Some of them had to go abroad because they are not given a possibility to live in their country. We tried to show all Belarusians that the fate of these people is not indifferent for us, that we remember them, that we are ready to fight for them,” stated the leader of the new organization “Young Belarus” Artur Finkevich.

Street rallies of solidarity, conferences, exhibitions, film screenings dedicated to Belarus are to be held on October 16 in Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Russia, France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, the US. Thus, Belarusian students in Poland will gather near the building of the Belarusian Embassy, they will light candles and place portraits of the abducted opponents of Lukashenka’s regime near them. In Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia Belarusian students will distribute informational materials on the situation in Belarus.

As we have informed, two months ago political prisoners, a former candidate for presidency in Belarus Alyaksandr Kazulin, a young activist Andrei Kim, a leader of entrepreneurs Syarhei Parsyukevich were released from prisons.

The list of political prisoners does not end on that. 10 opposition activists have been sentenced to restriction of freedom for 2 years without sending them to special institutions. Maxim Dashuk as a minor is sentenced to a year and a half of restriction of freedom.

Initiators of days of Solidarity three years ago were the leader of the initiative “We remember”, a widow of the abducted businessman and public leader Iryna Krasouskaya, a well-known journalist Iryna Khalip and a young leader Mikita Sasim. The idea to hold days of Solidarity appeared after police disbanded a rally dedicated to the anniversary of abduction of the Vice Speaker of the Supreme Soviet of the 13th convocation Viktar Hanchar and businessman and public leader Anatol Krasouski on September 16, 2005. Policemen seized portraits of the disappeared politicians (people were also holding portraits of former Interior Minister Yury Zakharanka and journalist Dzmitry Zavadski the abducted in Belarus) and national flags. On that day the young leader Mikita Sasim raised his jeans shirt as a symbol of resistance to dictatorship.