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A press conference with the participation of former political prisoners who were taken from Belarus to Ukraine following negotiations with the United States was held in Kyiv. The participants included Viktar Babaryka, Maria Kalesnikava, Aliaksandr Fiaduta, and Uladzimir Labkovich.
Answering a question about the war and Belarus’s role in it, Babaryka said that during imprisonment he and other political prisoners had no access to reliable information and therefore could not assess what was happening.
“We do not know anything reliably. Why? Because in the conditions we were in, access to information was very, very limited. I am not saying whether it was truthful or untruthful — it was only one-sided, that is, only from Belarusian state media. Therefore, to comment or give assessments when you know the position of only one side is meaningless. That is why, regarding what is happening in the outside world, especially where the issue concerns controversial matters involving more than one side, I think you will get very little from us, he said.
According to Kalesnikava, political prisoners practically knew nothing at all about the war.
“Because there was no possibility to obtain even minimal information about it. And indeed, I cannot give any comments on this matter“, she said.
“I very much want this to stop. And I know that millions of people across the world also want this horror to stop. For the killing of people to stop, for such inhumane acts to stop, for people to remember that they are people and why we all came into this world. It is very difficult to hear about this, and there can be no justifications here. I sympathize and deeply share the losses of Ukraine, the losses of Russia, and everyone who is suffering“, she added.
Babaryka emphasized that the issue should not be framed in terms of nationality or political sides of the conflict, but in terms of human values.
“From my point of view, the questions were asked very correctly: do we support people. The question does not concern nationality, does not concern who is right or wrong, or anything else. Everything that is committed against humanity is inhumane, it cannot be supported. But I will emphasize again: such actions cannot be supported and do not depend on where a person was born. They depend on the moral principles of the individual. And they cannot be supported in any way. One cannot justify that this is acceptable because I am for justice. No, this cannot be done. There may be an explanation of why you do something, but the moral assessment of the act itself cannot change because of that.
And therefore the answer to your question is contained in the question itself: such actions cannot be supported. But this does not mean that they are committed exclusively by one side — Russians say Ukrainians do this, Ukrainians say Russians do this, or someone else. Just as in any war, regardless of where it takes place, criminal actions are committed that cannot be supported in any way“, he said.
“All war crimes must be investigated, and those responsible must be punished“, Labkovich stated.