Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda met with Nobel Prize laureate, human rights defender, and former political prisoner Ales Bialiatski on December 15, the Lithuanian presidential press service reported.
“We received the news that after many years of unjust imprisonment you are finally free with great relief. Your resilience, moral strength, and unwavering commitment to human dignity — even in the darkest of times — inspire us all,” Nausėda said.
Nausėda stressed that Lithuania would continue to support US efforts aimed at securing the release of all political prisoners in Belarus. He said Belarus must end repression and stop supporting Russia in its war against Ukraine.
“We also consistently emphasize that the Belarusian regime must end all political repression and refrain from launching new ones, that democratic, free, and fair elections must be held in Belarus, and that any support by the Lukashenka regime for Russia’s aggressive war against Ukraine must cease,” the Lithuanian president said.
Nausėda also noted that by staging hybrid attacks using weather balloons, the Lukashenka regime is attempting to break out of international isolation, gain legitimacy, and evade sanctions. He stressed that Lithuania would not give in to blackmail and would continue to support Belarus’s democratic opposition.
Bialiatski was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was among the 123 political prisoners “pardoned” on December 13 and was taken out of Belarus to Lithuania.
