Some 30 people demonstrate in Warsaw to demand freedom for Dashkevich, Statkevich
Some 30 people staged a demonstration in Warsaw on November 18
to demand the release of Belarusian political prisoners Zmitser
Dashkevich and Mikalay Statkevich.
The event had been
organized by the office of European Parliament member Marek Migalski and
a Belarusian opposition group called European Belarus.
The
demonstrators included Natallya Radzina, editor in chief of the popular
Belarusian opposition news site charter97.org, now based in the Polish
capital, and Zmitser Barodka, director of the Belarusian House in
Warsaw, according to Mr. Migalski's press office. Belarusians based in
Belgium, France, Lithuania and Switzerland had also traveled to the
Polish capital to attend the demonstration.
During the
demonstration a documentary was shown on a big screen about the
authorities' brutal crackdown on the post-election opposition
demonstration in Minsk on December 19, 2010 and the subsequent
imprisonment of many opposition leaders.
In October, the office of Mr. Migalski launched a campaign of solidarity with Messrs. Statkevich and Dashkevich.
A
website, www.2free.eu, was launched in the framework of the campaign to
provide updates on the situations of Messrs. Statkevich and Dashkevich
and efforts taken by Mr. Migalski and his office to secure the release
of the political prisoners.
A petition urging the heads of state
of the European Union countries to speak about the "Belarusian
prisoners of conscience who are persecuted, oppressed and who are
mistreated in prison" is available on the website.
