Welcoming Sergey Tihanovski and Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya to Parliament, EP President Roberta Metsola said: “Sergey Tihanovski and Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya are living proof that the fight for a free and democratic Belarus is alive and strong. Their presence in Europe’s house of democracy shows that courage cannot be silenced, and hope cannot be jailed. The European Parliament stands with them, and with every Belarusian who dreams and fights for a free and democratic future. The bonds that unite us Europeans cannot be broken.”
“From the very first day, the European Parliament stood by our side” said Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. She highlighted Parliament’s support for Belarusian democracy, and shared the story of her husband, Sergey, his imprisonment and release, calling for sustained international pressure on Belarus to free over 1,300 political prisoners. “Sanctions do work, no matter what the regime’s apologists say”, she added.
Turning to Ukraine, Tsikhanouskaya said that “the Ukrainian people fight not only for their own land, they fight for all of us”. She called on the EU to give Ukraine “everything it needs” to win, and to “weaken Putin by sanctioning his oil revenues and confiscating his assets. The weaker Russia becomes, the weaker Lukashenka is”, she said.
Sergey Tihanovski stressed that, after enduring five years of solitary imprisonment with no contact with the outside world, his foremost priority will be to secure the release of the remaining political prisoners still held in Belarusian jails.
He expressed regret that the struggle to change the Lukashenka regime in 2020 was unsuccessful and that the democratic forces did not benefit from greater European support at the time, allowing Russia to take over. Tihanovski urged Europe to step up its efforts and take the initiative as a strategic ally, supporting the Belarusian people’s struggle for freedom and democracy, so that Belarus can become a neutral bridge between the EU and Russia.
On Wednesday, MEPs also debated the situation in Belarus, five years after the fraudulent presidential elections, and voted on an accompanying resolution.
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