Statement by Dr Laima Andrikienė, Member of the Seimas, at the Seimas plenary on 23 December 2020

Press release, 23 December 2020

Madam Speaker,

Madam Prime Minister,

Fellow Colleagues,

Yesterday, the Coordination Council of the Belarusian opposition addressed us, the leaders of the European Union, the European Commission, and the US Congress, and the governments and leaders of the Member States of the European Union with a request for support. Today it is on us that the freedom and security of the leaders and members of the Belarusian democratic opposition and their families depend.

With Christmas, one of the most beautiful Christian holidays, fast approaching, we all think of our closest and most precious ones, who need our love and attention, our compassion, our care and our support. At the same time, as the holiday mood and the spirit of Christmas are in the air, a new attack has been launched against the leaders of the fighting Belarusian nation in our immediate vicinity, in the neighbouring Belarus. Cynicism at its highest! The timing was deliberate hoping that the EU and US leaders and politicians would be on holiday celebrating Christmas.

The day before yesterday, on 21 December, Belarus closed its borders. On the very same day – and it was no coincidence – the Lukashenko regime announced a new attack on the Coordination Council of the Belarusian opposition. The Investigation Committee established by the authorities initiated a criminal case against Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, winner of the Andrei Sakharov Prize, who will be presented with this year’s Freedom Prize on the decision of our Seimas. Criminal proceedings were instituted against Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and other members of the Presidium of the Coordination Council, namely, Volha Kavalkova, Maxim Znak, Maria Kalesnikava, Pavel Latushka, and Siarhei Dylevsky. They are all charged with ‘creating an extremist formation’. In general, the criminal proceedings were instituted against all the members of the Coordination Council concerning attempts to seize power by anti-constitutional means. The article of the Criminal Code of Belarus concerned provides for a 12-year imprisonment. All the members of the Coordination Council, who are currently in their homeland Belarus, are in serious danger.

Therefore, I call on the leaders of our state and the leaders of our Parliament to express their support for the fighting Belarusian nation in the coming days at least by making a public statement and thus sending a clear message to the Lukashenko regime that the repression against and attacks on the democratic opposition are totally unacceptable.