Laima Andrikienė: ‘We stand in solidarity with our Belarusian brothers and sisters fighting for freedom and democracy’

Press release, 5 February 2021

When speaking on the Lithuanian National Radio, Laima Andrikienė, Member of the Seimas and Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, noted that it had already been six months of ongoing protests in the neighbouring Belarus over the rigged presidential election followed by Alexander Lukashenko’s self-declared victory.

Office of the Seimas photo

‘The Community of Democracies, and Lithuania do not recognise Lukashenko as president; the president-elect of Belarus is Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, winner of the 2020 Sakharov Prize and nominee for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. Our support goes to our Belarusian brothers and sisters, who fight for freedom and democracy and who happen to share an old and noble history with us,’ said Ms Andrikienė.

‘To peaceful protests calling for justice and fair elections in line with international standards, the Lukashenko regime responds with repression, namely, the number of political prisoners has already reached 230 to include human rights defenders, journalists, activists, and members of youth organisations and political parties. These people are brought before court on false claims; attempts are made to break them in prisons by fabricating charges and cases and instituting judicial proceedings,’ Ms Andrikienė added.

Laima Andrikienė has taken under her patronage www.tut.by journalist Katsiaryna Barysevich, who had been detained and imprisoned since 19 November last year in the KGB prison in Minsk, also known as pre-trial detention centre No 1. She is accused of disclosing confidential information about the killing of Raman Bandarenka by the Belarusian special forces on 11 November 2020. The journalist had the courage to deny the lies spread by the government that Bandarenka had been drunk and had died as a result of injuries suffered in a fight. On the basis of a testimony by medical doctors, Barysevich disclosed that no alcohol had been actually found in Bandarenka’s blood. As a result, the young journalist has been detained and now faces the punishment of potential imprisonment from 5 to 10 years.

‘In the past, I wrote letters to Mikhail Khodorkovsky, former Russian political prisoner, when he was convicted and imprisoned in a Russian prison and, afterwards, in a penal facility. I saw the liberation of Khodorkovsky as my personal victory. My mission now is to take care of Katsiaryna Barysevich, who is young enough to be my daughter, support her and her family by all possible means, and keep raising awareness of her case at international forums. I have no doubt that the day will come when I will be able to see and embrace Katsiaryna as a free person, because all the regimes come to an end one day,’ Ms Andrikienė said.

Aldona Drėgvaitė, e-mail: [email protected]