Free Russia Forum: We Are Calling To Recognize Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya As Legitimate President Of Belarus

Statement of the Standing Committee of the Free Russia Forum on the situation in Belarus.

The Standing Committee of the Free Russia Forum has published a statement on the situation in Belarus. Charter97.org cites the text of the statement:

“On August 9, presidential election was held in the Republic of Belarus. According to “official data,” the current president of Belarus, Aliaksandr Lukashenka, became the winner, but the data of independent exit polls indicate that Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya won the election with more than 72% of the vote.

The impudent, shameless falsification of the results of the presidential election in Belarus angered the Belarusian society, provoking mass protests throughout the country. Thousands of Belarusians took to the streets, both in the capital of Belarus and in many small towns, refusing to recognize the official election results and demanding an honest vote count.

Aliaksandr Lukashenka, rejected by the overwhelming majority of his country's citizens, refused to recognize the will of the people, clearly expressed in the presidential election. Instead of voluntarily resigning from his post, which he has held for 26 years, he committed a total falsification of elections, and then, faced with public resistance, launched a machine of dispersal and repression, unleashing on the peaceful citizens of Belarus all the might of the repressive apparatus grown for over a quarter of a century ... Throughout the night after the election, Belarus was in a fever of violent suppression of protests, during which the police used batons, stun grenades and rubber bullets against their fellow citizens. During these brutal crackdowns, hundreds of people were detained, and many were injured. At least one person was killed. The dictator who started thrashing around showed that he was ready to drown people's demonstrations in blood.

It is noteworthy that the first to congratulate Aliaksandr Lukashenka on his victory were not the leaders of democratic countries, but authoritarian leaders like himself: Vladimir Putin, Chairman of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping and President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev.

We express our solidarity with the people of Belarus and welcome their striving for freedom and justice. People who openly challenge the dictatorship deserve great respect.

We also appeal to the leaders of all civilized, democratic countries of the world with an appeal to recognize Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya as the legitimate President of the Republic of Belarus, and also to offer our mediation in the process of peaceful transfer of power. Only the firm support of the leaders of the countries of the free world will allow the Belarusian society to defeat the dictatorship, and open the country for democratic transformations.

As for the Belarusian security officials, who so zealously rushed to carry out the orders of the distraught dictator, sooner or later all of them will face fair retribution,” the statement says.