Pressure on the Regime, Release of Political Prisoners — Latushka Holds Meetings at PACE

Deputy Head of the United Transitional Cabinet Pavel Latushka, as part of the Belarusian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), met with Knut Abraham, head of the German Bundestag delegation to PACE, and Pap Ndiaye, Permanent Representative of France to the Council of Europe. The meetings took place during the PACE winter session, which is being held in Strasbourg from January 26 to 30, according to “Latushka’s Team and the For Freedom Movement”.

Abraham, who is also head of the Bundestag group “For a Democratic Belarus”, stressed the need to continue sanctions and political pressure on the Lukashenka regime. He noted that throughout its existence the regime has repeatedly used negotiations with the European Union, made minor concessions, and then returned to its previous practice of repression.

Knut Abraham agreed with the approach that dialogue should be pursued with Belarusian civil society and democratic forces.

The interlocutors agreed to continue work on holding representatives of the Lukashenka regime accountable for crimes against humanity committed against Belarusians. They also discussed possibilities for expanding cooperation between the Coordination Council and the “For a Democratic Belarus” group in the Bundestag.

Latushka informed the German representative about the upcoming elections to the Coordination Council.

Pap Ndiaye assured that France would continue to support Belarusian democratic forces and emphasized the need to pay greater attention to the situation in Belarus within the framework of the Council of Europe.

The Deputy Head of the United Transitional Cabinet provided Ndiaye with information on the situation of political prisoners in Belarus and the ongoing repression. The sides discussed possible steps to secure the release of political prisoners.

Latushka also stressed that the United Transitional Cabinet is calling on France and other European partners to use the full potential of sanctions mechanisms to pressure the Lukashenka regime into making real, rather than cosmetic, changes to the domestic political situation in Belarus and to begin dialogue with civil society.

The delegation of Belarusian democratic forces also took part in meetings with delegations of the parliaments of Croatia and France.