On the International Day of Solidarity with Belarusian Political Prisoners, more than 40 governments, parliamentarians, diplomats, international organizations and representatives of civil society issued statements calling for their release. The Office of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya compiled them on its website.
The European Parliament called for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners and condemned the practice of forcibly expelling former prisoners from their own country.
“While the recent release of a number of detainees constitutes a positive and welcome development that brings relief to many families, it does not reflect a systemic change in the regime’s repressive policies. Politically motivated arrests, prosecutions, and convictions continue on a daily basis”, the statement said.
The European Parliament also demanded a full amnesty for all those convicted in politically motivated cases and guarantees of safe return for those forced to leave the country.
The Vice-President of the European Parliament Pina Picierno said that repression is no longer limited to political opponents and journalists. Increasingly, their family members are also coming under threat.
“Testimonies coming from prisons speak of documented cases of torture and inhuman conditions. Many are held in isolation for months, without access to lawyers or relatives. Some have lost their lives in detention. Today, we raise our voices on behalf of all those silenced in Belarusian prisons: for their release and an end to persecution, for the attention of the international community, for support for the victims of the regime. Solidarity is not a crime. Silence, on the contrary, makes new repression possible”, she said.
A member of the Bundestag from the Green Party, Robin Wagener, called on the German federal government to seek the release of all political prisoners in Belarus and separately thanked Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya for “continuing tirelessly in exile to keep Belarus on Europe’s political agenda.”
The United States Congress, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission and the George W. Bush Presidential Center expressed solidarity with more than 840 political prisoners, including 21 journalists. Freedom House praised the efforts of US Special Envoy John Coale and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Smith to secure the release of hundreds of prisoners over the past year, stressing that repression must stop.
The Committee to Protect Journalists called for the immediate release of the 21 journalists still behind bars and an end to the persecution of journalists in exile and intimidation of their families. PEN International expressed solidarity with 122 cultural figures, including 24 writers, who are in prison or under house arrest.
Statements were also issued by the foreign ministries of Estonia, Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Norway, the Netherlands, Ireland and Canada. All called for the immediate release of political prisoners and for continued sanctions pressure on the regime.
The International Day of Solidarity with Belarusian Political Prisoners is observed on May 21, the day of the death of activist Vitold Ashurak in the Shklou penal colony in 2021. Since then, another eight political prisoners have died in custody. According to Viasna, as of May 21, 2026, there were 841 political prisoners held in Belarusian places of detention.
