“The Increasing Number of Political Prisoners in Belarus: Insights from Rodions Begliaks and Viasna Day of Solidarity”

The number of political prisoners in the neighboring country is increasing every day. In total, there are more than one and a half thousand political prisoners in prisons, says Rodions Begliaks, the representative of the Latvian Belarusian association “Supolka”, at the same time stating that the true number of political prisoners in Belarus can be measured, perhaps even in many thousands, most of whom are afraid to turn to law enforcement authorities and obtain the status of political prisoner. Thus, they protect their families from possible harm and themselves from even more pressure.

“With the picket, we want to show that the Belarusian people are not Lukashenko’s regime. The majority of the population is against him. We continue to fight. Since our army and militia have remained on the dictator’s side, it is very difficult for us to resist in an armed way. People are fighting with their opinion, social they are republishing information on platforms, trying to hold rallies somewhere. We also want the people of Latvia not to consider Belarusians as supporters of Russian aggression in the war against Ukraine,” says Beļaks.

The human rights organization “Viasna” has declared May 21 as a day of solidarity with Belarusian political prisoners. On this day two years ago, political prisoner Witold Ashurak died in the Shklov colony. Today, solidarity measures are planned in many countries of the world.

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