Tsikhanouskaya on the letter from some former political prisoners: Such open letters should be written to Lukashenka

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, in an interview with DW Belarus in Berlin, explained her position on the open letter from a group of former political prisoners to European leaders and the European Union. The authors of the letter call on Europe to more actively promote the release of political prisoners in Belarus. Tsikhanouskaya says she supports all its messages, but, according to her, the letter is addressed to the wrong recipient and "could simply split society."

Journalist Aliaksandra Bahuslauskaya reminded that Tsikhanouskaya supported the letter and even said she would sign it if she had the opportunity. Nevertheless, the impression in society was that she was against it.

"I recorded a video address stating that I subscribe to every message written there, because all of us, Belarusians and democratic society, want people to be released, want the repression to stop, for people to be able to return home, and for transnational repression to stop," Tsikhanouskaya said.

"The only thing that raised questions for me was the addressee of this letter. It was sent to European partners, as if they are responsible for what is happening in Belarus. The addressee of this letter is Lukashenka. We all know who imprisons people, who continues the struggle against Belarusians. Such open letters should also be written to that side," the politician stated.

Tsikhanouskaya said that she recently met with European partners, along with those who wrote and signed the letter. According to her, they explained that attempts to interact with the regime have continued for all six years: Macron called Lukashenka, and delegations from the European Union and individual countries travel to Minsk.

"The thing is, the regime is not interested [in this], they don't want to talk about releasing people. They have one answer: we have criminals in our prisons, we have no political prisoners. Let's talk about business, about trade, about lifting sanctions, but certainly not about people," Tsikhanouskaya said.

She believes that the EU's position is somehow presented as inactive participation in the release of political prisoners.

"Such a false dilemma is created: you are either for sanctions or for release," she said.

"It feels like those who are against giving legitimacy to Lukashenka's regime, against direct dialogue, are therefore against the release of people, and the others are for it. But it doesn't work that way. This letter could simply split society," Tsikhanouskaya stated.

According to her, the messages of the letter are correct, but the question is how the regime might use them. She also noted that the letter lacks the factor of war and does not consider Belarusians as subjects.

Tsikhanouskaya doubts that direct negotiations between Europe and the regime will yield results. "Are there guarantees that the regime will release people? No. But this will elevate Lukashenka's regime. He doesn't need dialogue as such. He needs to show that Europe, with its principled position on human freedoms, on the release of political prisoners, has given up and wants to return to normalizing relations," she said.

"Of course, human life is more important than anything, but how to achieve this? Lukashenka would want both Belarusians and Europeans to crawl on their knees, ask for forgiveness, and let's go back to 2019. But that won't happen again," Tsikhanouskaya said.

She believes that the majority of Belarusians would not want to return to a state where political prisoners are released, but repression continues, and those who have left are still persecuted. "Without pressure, even those people who, thank God, have already been released, were not freed," she emphasized.

According to Tsikhanouskaya, European partners support the messages of the letter, but for them, in addition to political prisoners, security and the war in Ukraine are important issues. She noted that for many months the EU has not introduced new restrictions against the regime specifically for human rights violations, and called for continued pressure.

"What are we hoping for? For a manifestation of humanism from Lukashenka? Well, I wouldn't count on that," Tsikhanouskaya said.

Read also:

Babaryka, Zolatava, and several dozen other former political prisoners called on European leaders to negotiate more actively for releases

Palchys on the letter from Kalesnikava and Zolatava: "For everything good, against everything bad," but in reality it will leave 9 million in a local DPRK

Statkevich on the appeal from Zolatava and Kalesnikava: It devalues suffering and sacrifices, it's an ideology of opportunism

Advisor to the President of Poland commented on the appeal from Kalesnikava and Zolatava: Lukashenka releases a few dozen prisoners, and the next day detains new ones

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