The human chain in Prague supports political prisoners in Russia and Belarus
People held letters with the names and photographs of political prisoners. They were also able to sign a letter in support of political prisoners addressed to EU officials and MEPs, calling for more targeted sanctions against the regimes. Veronika Jíravová told ČTK on behalf of the organizers on the initiative Let’s Give It Together.
“We are very happy,” she told CTK, adding that the interest exceeded expectations. , civic expressions or religion, the conveners of the event stated.
“While the number of political prisoners is rising every day, those behind their persecution and who fund authoritarian regimes continue to use European democracies for personal gain. It is essential that European countries take strong action against these people from the top Belarusian and Russian politicians and oligarchs, “said the organizers.
They say that the human rights organization Vyasna currently registers more than 800 political prisoners in Belarus and is facing persecution on its own. According to them, the situation is also very bad in Russia.
For example, politicians are calling for the strengthening of the asset structures of those closest to the working and private neighborhoods of the Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin regimes, and for strengthening the capacity to monitor suspicious financial flows from Russia and Belarus.
The attention of the world public turned to Belarus, especially last year’s presidential election, in which, according to official results, Lukashenko won again. The opposition and some countries consider the announced result to be rigged. Police cracked down on the protesters and arrested tens of thousands of people. The incident and protests sparked an incident in May this year, when the Belarusian authorities, with the help of a fighter jet, forced a Ryanair plane on the route from Athens to Vilnius to land in Minsk in order to arrest opposition journalist Raman Pratasevich.
On the occasion of the year since the presidential election in Belarus, the Czech Foreign Ministry in August this year called on the Belarusian government to release all political prisoners, end repression and establish a dialogue with citizens. The Czechia and the European Union did not recognize the results of the election, in which the current President Lukashenko officially won and which, according to the opposition, accompanied the fraud.