Socialistic International Secretary General calls Lukashenka to immediately free political prisoners

Secretary General of the Socialist International Luis Ayala urged the Belarusian authorities and Alyaksandr Lukashenka to free the political prisoners immediately.

“Everything I’ve heard about reaction of the Belarusian authorities to a mass demonstration and its aftermath is unacceptable,” Luis Ayala said at a press conference in Minsk. “Over 700 people got arrested, many people were beaten, former presidential candidates have been in jail for a month having no access to lawyers. This is not happening in any other country. The international community expects the arrested to be freed today.”

Ayala noted that it was the second time when former presidential candidates had been arrested after elections in Belarus. “This must have become a system in the Belarusian politics. I haven’t seen presidential candidates to be arrested in other countries. Elections are an open process. Arrests of candidates sound shocking to me. They represent a certain segment of society,” he said.

According to Ayala, Belarus has to make an important choice. “It’s possible to move forward to democracy and respect for human rights, as another nations do, but one can also choose even more isolation,” he emphasized.