Not enough done to free political prisoners, relatives say

Former political prisoners and relatives of political prisoners recently made a public appeal. They believe that not enough is being done to free their loved ones from behind bars.

The appeal notes that there are currently 1,500 political prisoners in custody, "but even this terrible figure does not reflect the true scale of terror. According to official data, more than 11,500 "political" criminal cases have been initiated over the past 2.5 years.

"Human rights defenders are not able to gather all information about the repression, while prisoners and their relatives are often afraid to tell the truth about what is happening to them, fearing revenge from security officials," write the authors of the appeal.

They remind us of the humiliation and blackmail political prisoners face in prison, about the yellow tags on their clothes and the absence of visits and parcels.

"We regret to say that not enough is being done for the release of our loved ones today," say relatives of political prisoners.

They compare the situation in Belarus and Ukraine, where prisoners can return home after the exchange. In their view, the fact that there have been only a few cases of the release of political prisoners in Belarus shows the ineffectiveness of current approaches to solving the problem.

"We consider the release of ALL political prisoners and the FULL cessation of repression in Belarus a task that cannot be questioned under any circumstances. But the ways of solving this task may vary. Each released political prisoner is already a small victory that brings us closer to the main goal," reads the appeal.

The authors of the appeal call on the leaders of the free world to take more decisive actions to release the Belarusian political prisoners and offer their assistance: "These actions should include negotiation processes, efforts, both public and non-public. We, in turn, are ready to take an active part in developing new approaches, tactics and strategies.

They call for signatures on the appeal, both publicly and non-publicly.

To date, 29 people have signed the appeal, including Tatsiana Homich (sister of Maryia Kalesnikava), Aliaksandr Loika (husband of Iryna Slaunikava), Sviatlana Matskevich (wife of Uladzimir Matskevich), Ihar Illyash (husband of Katsiaryna Andreyeva), former political prisoner Daria Chultsova, Halina Antonchyk (daughter of Ryhor Kastusiou) and others.