By Florian Wiedemann | Project Coordinator
More than 1,300 political prisoners in Belarus have to celebrate their birthdays behind bars, isolated from their loved ones. One of them is Ales Bialiatski, human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 2022, who turned 62 on 25 September 2024. In keeping with the spirit of Ales, we have taken this day as an opportunity to host an event in favour of human rights. Thanks to your amazing support, we're able to make important activities like this happen!
In an incredible display of solidarity, over 82,000 people signed our petition to demand freedom for peaceful demonstrators, opposition activists, human rights defenders and all other arbitrarily imprisoned people in Belarus. To commemorate Ales' birthday, we organised the handover of the petition to the Belarusian Embassy in Brussels. The document was delivered by his #WeStandBYyou godparent, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (Member of the European Parliament), who proclaimed: “Ales should not spend his birthday behind bars. He should not have to spend any more days behind bars. Today we are not only standing up for Ales, today we are demanding the release of all political prisoners in Belarus. We will not rest until every one of them is free.” Accompanied by a vocal demonstration, speeches by politicians and a vibrant atmosphere of hope for a better and democratic future for Belarus, the event attracted not only many passers-by but also the media.
These activities are essential. Remembering their plight, honoring their courage to demand fair elections, and condemning the oppressive regime offer crucial support to political prisoners. They also help raise awareness about the serious human rights violations in Belarus. That’s why we launched a postcard campaign in August. Through this initiative, we share information about individual political prisoners and distribute printed postcards that people can send to them. So far, we've handed out over 1,500 postcards across Switzerland.
A huge number of people have shown their support. The amount of feedback we receive for our work from former political prisoners, from suffering families, and from Belarusians who have been forced to leave the country, strengthens us in our fight for human rights in Belarus. And as MEP Strack-Zimmermann said: we will not rest!
Thanks to your donation, we can continue our vital and tireless efforts for political prisoners in Belarus!
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