Exiled opposition leader: ‘We want Belarus to return to family of European countries’

New York — 

Among those successful New York City for the 79th United Nations General Assembly is exiled Belarusian absorption person Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.

On Monday, Tsikhanouskaya and Evgenia Kara-Murza, the Russian quality rights activistic and woman of erstwhile governmental captive Vladimir Kara-Murza, received the yearly quality rights prize awarded by the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, founded by the precocious Tom Lantos, who was the lone Holocaust subsister ever elected to the U.S. Congress.

Addressing the U.N. Human Rights Council successful Geneva that aforesaid time via video link, Tsikhanouskaya said she was speaking connected behalf of the much than 1,400 Belarusians imprisoned for governmental reasons by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s government.

“Many of them are held successful implicit isolation, incommunicado … nary letters, nary telephone calls, nary interaction with the extracurricular world,” she said. “My husband, Syarhei, has been chopped disconnected for implicit a year. I bash not cognize if helium is alive.”

Tsikhanouskaya was interviewed successful New York by Victoria Kupchinetsky of Voice of America’s Russian Service.

This interrogation has been edited for clarity and brevity.

VOA: What is the intent of you coming present to New York to the General Assembly?

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya: The U.N. is simply a bully level wherever you tin conscionable not lone your allies, but besides the countries who mightiness beryllium utile to your cause. We are, arsenic Belarusians ... warring for the restoration of ideology successful Belarus, for the merchandise of our governmental prisoners. And we are looking for satellite leaders who tin someway assistance america with these questions. People successful Belarusian prisons are dying. This is the astir achy taxable for america successful the antiauthoritarian movement. And I deliberation that countries who inactive person immoderate narration with this [Lukashenko] regime, they tin assistance america successful solving the humanitarian crisis.

VOA: Why bash you deliberation Lukashenko released those dozens of governmental prisoners? Do you cognize if determination are immoderate negotiations astir an speech akin to the caller captive speech with Russia?

Tsikhanouskaya: Lukashenko wants to merchantability the merchandise of astir 100 radical arsenic an enactment of humanity. But it has thing successful communal with this. I deliberation this merchandise is connected with the unit that is imposed connected Lukashenko’s regime. They privation to person the sanctions lifted, they privation to beryllium applicable successful the governmental world, but they are not.

Our task is to marque definite that the argumentation of our antiauthoritarian allies volition not alteration toward Belarus. And, of course, putting unit connected the regime, strengthening Belarusian civilian society, agents of antiauthoritarian forces. We are looking for venues however we tin merchandise governmental prisoners [for] humanitarian reasons. … People are dying. We are looking for countries, for organizations, that tin beryllium mediators connected this issue.

VOA: Are you collecting materials, evidence, against Lukashenko to contiguous successful The Hague, astatine the planetary tribunal?

Tsikhanouskaya: I’m wholly definite that successful the world, justness has to beryllium restored, and Lukashenko has a agelong database of crimes — crimes against humanity, crimes of the deportation of Belarusians, crimes of the abduction of Ukrainian children, the migration crisis, the hijacking of airplanes, bringing our state into the warfare [against Ukraine], and truthful connected and truthful forth. And, of course, for years we person been collecting grounds of these crimes, and we privation to usage planetary mechanisms — the ICC [International Criminal Court], ICJ [International Court of Justice, aka World Court] — [words indistinct] to bring Lukashenko and his cronies to account, though these instruments are alternatively slow, honestly speaking. But we are accordant successful our approach, and hopefully precise soon volition commencement a peculiar probe against the crimes.

VOA: What is the eventual extremity of your conflict — to really region Lukashenko from powerfulness oregon thing else?

Tsikhanouskaya: Our extremity is to reconstruct justness successful Belarus, clasp escaped and just elections successful my homeland, but I recognize that we can’t bash this portion Lukashenko is there. So, our eventual extremity is to merchandise governmental prisoners, clasp escaped and just elections, but earlier this, of course, we person to weaken the authorities arsenic overmuch arsenic imaginable and fortify nationalist identity, civilian society, antiauthoritarian forces, to person a creaseless and accelerated modulation period. And of course, we privation Belarus to instrumentality to the household of European countries.