At the OSCE Permanent Council deep concern expressed regarding shameful milestone of 1 000 political prisoners reached in Belarus
On 3 February 2022 the Permanent Council of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna, discussed deeply concerning situation of the growing number of political prisoners in Belarus.
37 OSCE participating States, including Lithuania, delivered a Joint Statement drawing special attention to the shameful milestone of 1 000 political prisoners reached previous week due to continued arbitrary or unjust arrests and detention, mostly targeting prominent opposition figures, human rights defenders, journalists and other media actors.
The Belarusian authorities were once again urged to immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners imprisoned in Belarus, and to uphold its international obligations and OSCE commitments.
The statement was delivered on behalf of the following delegations: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, The Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, Ukraine, and the United States. Full text of the statement can be found here.
Photo - Belarus Human Rights Center "Viasna" (https://prisoners.spring96.org/en)
