Rally in support of political prisoners in Belarus held in Vilnius

Belarusian political prisoners were supported in the capital of Lithuania.

As a reporter of charter97.org informs, the rally of solidarity has been held today in Town Hall Square in Vilnius. Belarusian and Lithuanian civil activists and human rights watchdogs took part in the event.

“People in Belarus still have a sense of fear, and such rallies are impossible there due to the elections. Almost every day we are reading that a rock concert in a forest was disbanded, people were detained. Every activity which had not been planned by the authorities is met with a crackdown,” said the head of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee Aleh Hulak.

As said by him, “this sad dependence continues.”

To the question why she stands in the centre of Vilnius, not in central Minsk, the head of the Belarusian House of Human Rights Hanna Herasimava answered: “We all live and work here, and today is the day of the international solidarity with the civil society of Belarus. It is important to remember about Belarus and its problems not only inside the country, but abroad as well, as there is a tendency to forget that there are political prisoners in Belarus.”

“The situation in Belarus looks not so awful not because it has improved, but because the situation around has deteriorated seriously,” Hanna Herasimava says.

As said by her, the issue of political prisoners in Belarus receded into the background at the moment, and it is one of the threats and general tendencies in the region.

“Today all of a sudden Belarus has received a role of a “peacemaker”, and it is clear that because of this role less attention is paid to problems, and the current situation is viewed more favourably. In addition, it’s a period before the elections for the West. But we have already passed through this cycle. In this case I do not expect a new result, differing from the one in the previous presidential elections,” she said.

We remind that at the moment 6 political prisoners are kept behind the bars in Belarus: Mikalai Statkevich, Ihar Alinevich, Mikalai Dzyadok, Yury Rubtsou, Yauhen Vaskovich and Artsyom Prakapenka. Pressure is constantly exerted on the political prisoners, and their incarcerations conditions deteriorated.