Belarusian political prisoners call on Europe to reconsider its policy

The Conference of Belarusian Political Prisoners in Warsaw, 20 February 2025. A conference of former Belarusian political prisoners and relatives of political prisoners was held at the Belarusian House in Warsaw for European diplomats and the media. The event was organized by the Free Belarus movement. The main goal of the conference was to highlight the topic of repression in Belarus and call on Europe to use a “humanistic approach” to release people from prison. It was especially emphasized that the policy of total sanctions against the entire population of Belarus has demonstrated its ineffectiveness over the past 5 years. The conference was attended by former political prisoners Iryna Shchasnaya and Viktar Parkhimchyk, a representative of the “Association of Relatives and Former Political Prisoners” Sviatlana Matskevich, the wife of political prisoner Dzianis Ivashyn Olga Ivashyn, a Belarusian lawyer who worked directly with political prisoners, and the leader of the “Free Belarus” Movement Zyanon Paznyak. Diplomats from Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Romania, the Czech Republic, Latvia, and Lithuania, as well as some Polish media outlets were present.