Belarus: EU mobilising all means for political prisoners in Belarus

The European Union is mobilising all tools to address the situation of political prisoners in Belarus, EU High Representative Josep Borrell told the European Parliament on 7 February. 

In a speech on the new wave of mass arrests of opposition activists, which has led to the detention of over 200 people, mostly women, relatives of political prisoners, Borrell said the human rights situation in Belarus has been “rapidly and drastically deteriorating”. 

“The recent searches, repression and arrests of family members of political prisoners are the latest demonstrations of Lukashenka’s disregard for rule of law, democracy and fundamental freedoms,” said Borrell.

He said the EU continued to call on the regime to immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners, which number nearly 1,500.

Borrell added that the EU Delegation in Minsk regularly requested information from the Ministry of Foreign of Affairs of Belarus on the conditions of prominent political prisoners kept incommunicado. 

“We also ask to visit political prisoners, however to no avail. The minimum we can do is to continue showing our solidarity with political prisoners, notably by standing in front of courts during their trials. We also support families of political prisoners and work to ensure the rehabilitation of those who have served their sentence,” Borrell said.

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