Opposition leader: Switzerland should ask unpleasant questions
Published: Monday, Feb 26th 2024, 19:20
Updated At: Monday, Feb 26th 2024, 19:20
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The Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya has called for support for Belarusian civil society ahead of her visit to Switzerland. She would like to see more commitment from the Swiss representation in Minsk, said Tsikhanouskaya.
Switzerland should ask the regime of Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko uncomfortable questions, Tikhanovskaya said in an interview with Tamedia published on Monday. "Switzerland has the diplomatic staff," she said.
Tikhanovskaya would like the Swiss ambassador in Minks, Christine Honegger Zolotukhin, to "campaign more actively for the release of people who are imprisoned for political reasons under the worst conditions".
The interview was conducted before Tikhanovskaya's visit to Switzerland at the beginning of this week. She is traveling to Geneva on Monday for a meeting with the ambassadors of the United Nations (UN). On Tuesday, she plans to meet representatives of the Swiss Parliament and the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), including State Secretary Alexandre Fasel.
Switzerland is committed to helping arbitrarily detained persons in Belarus both bilaterally and multilaterally, the FDFA emphasized on Monday at the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency. The Swiss ambassador in Minsk is making an important contribution in this regard.
Wake-up call for the UN
The politician accused the UN of inaction. "People are being arbitrarily arrested, people are dying in prisons. What does the UN do? Nothing." The death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny should be a wake-up call for the United Nations. "We must no longer tolerate such blatant human rights violations," she said.
Shortly after Navalny's death, Tikhanovskaya met with the Russian opposition leader's wife, Yulia Navalnaya. The opposition movements do not often work together, said Tsikhanouskaya. The conditions in Belarus and Russia are different.
"Presidential elections were held in Belarus in 2020, which I won according to independent counts," said the politician, who had fled into exile. According to Tikhanovskaya, the elections gave her the right to form a shadow government. The European Union no longer recognizes Lukashenko as head of state.
©Keystone/SDA
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