“We want to draw European society’s attention to the problem of political repression in Belarus. We want to say that we remember, we will never forget or forgive, “said the association.

The students brought over 1,400 photos of Belarusian dissidents at the event and offered the people of Prague to draw the flag of free Belarus or tie a white ribbon around their hands as a sign of solidarity with the Belarusian protest.

“Activists, journalists, teachers, doctors, academics, lawyers, businessmen, students, the elderly and the sick, women and children are being tortured in the inhumane conditions of the Belarusian prison. “More than 12 people have been killed since the protests began in 2020. Ordinary people who have been deprived of their rights and freedoms by the Lukashenko regime,” the students stressed.

During the demonstration, the students also pointed out that they do not feel comfortable in the Czech Republic now because of the war in Ukraine, as the authorities regard them as citizens of an aggressive country.

“The Czech authorities are suspending the issuance of new student visas, so high school students cannot leave the country and remain in danger,” they told the students. They point out that the situation in Russia is very different from that in Belarus and we should therefore not be thrown into one bag.

The Belarusian human rights organization Vyasna, which is described as extremist in the country, has declared May 21 as the Day of Political Prisoners. Last year, dissident Vitold Ashurak died under suspicious circumstances in a Belarusian prison, where he was to serve five years for participating in protests against the rigged results of the presidential election in 2020.

According to Vyasna, there are currently 1,204 political prisoners in Belarusian prisons. On Friday, authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko signed a law that would allow his opponents to be sentenced to death.