Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki met on Tuesday with Natalia Pinchuk, the wife of Nobel laureate Ales Bialiatski, who is in prison in Belarus. We must continue to support the democratic opposition in Belarus, this is required by Polish raison d’état and human decency, the Prime Minister declared.
The head of the Polish government informed about the meeting with Pinczuk on Facebook.
Today I met Natalia Pinchuk, the wife of Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Byalyatski, whom he received for his long-standing commitment to human rights in Belarus
Morawiecki wrote.
He stressed that Natalia is the voice of the Belarusian opposition.
She is an extremely strong, charismatic woman who says and conveys what her husband cannot, as he is currently in a Belarusian prison, sentenced to 10 years in a political show trial
– added.
He stressed that “despite the challenges and difficulties posed by the war in Ukraine and Lukashenko’s daily repression against Belarusians, we must continue to support the democratic opposition beyond our eastern border.”
This is what the Polish raison d’état requires. Human decency demands it. This is what Europe’s future and security need
wrote the prime minister.
Meeting of the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with Natalia Pinczuk
The head of the Foreign Ministry, Zbigniew Rau, met on Tuesday with Natalia Pinchuk, the wife of Nobel laureate Ales Byalyatski, who is in prison in Belarus. Lately, my husband’s situation has not changed, and it is even difficult to contact him – Pinczuk said.
At the conference, after talking with the head of Polish diplomacy, Natalia Pinczuk emphasized the common view on historical issues and current problems related to the situation in which Belarus found itself.
Responding to questions from journalists, Pinchuk said that after calls from the international community, including the European Parliament, for her husband’s release, unfortunately nothing has changed in Ales Byalyatski’s situation.
There have even been some difficulties in dealing with my husband
said Pinchuk.
She added that today it is difficult to say whether recent actions and encounters in the West will bring about any change in the attitude of the Minsk regime and allow the release of political prisoners.
In response to further questions, Pinchuk said that recently, following a new Belarusian court ruling, she had no opportunity to contact her husband.
My last meeting with him, for an hour, was on November 10, it was the only meeting we were allowed – through the window and the telephone, as in the classic way in prisons
said Pinchuk.
She added that there is a possibility to correspond by letter, but this is only a theoretical possibility as it is not always carried out in practice. As she noted, correspondence is controlled by the regime and her letters reach Bialacki sporadically.
Pinczuk said she and her husband use self-censorship in correspondence and do not bring up political topics because such topics can arouse dissatisfaction from censors.
I look out the window, I describe what is happening outside the window, I look at the spider, I describe the spider. I look at what this life is, which does not concern political and social innuendo at all. So this is a great attempt to write about life without life
said Pinchuk.
She added that even the letter describing the starry sky did not reach her husband because – as she said – apparently there were some hidden senses or meanings in it.
Referring to the meetings in Poland, Pinczuk said she heard messages of support and options for support for her husband were discussed.
And I think we’ll get to these practical ways of support in the near future
she added.
MFA spokesman Łukasz Jasina told journalists that Poland and the Foreign Ministry were doing everything they could to help Aleś Bialacki.
(Natalia Pinczuk) is a fighter for ourselves, but also a symbol of her husband’s struggle, the greatest Belarusian hero of the moment, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize (…). The Minister (Zbigniew Rau) assured Natalia that we will do everything we can to ensure that Ales Bialacki leaves this prison and that even if he does not leave this prison in the near future, we should speak loudly to the whole world about what it happens that he will not be left alone
– emphasized the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
He also noted that Bialacki’s release “is still the decision of this man who is the usurping president of Belarus”.
Sometimes we can try our best and it’s still not enough. I still very much hope that Aleś Bialacki will spend at least another Christmas with his family, but politics sometimes teaches us not to be optimistic
Yasin conceded.
Before the meeting at the Foreign Ministry, Natalia Pinczuk spoke with Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. Jasina said Pinchuk would talk to President Andrzej Duda on Wednesday.
Ales Bialiatski, a Belarusian human rights defender, founder of the human rights center Viasna and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize last year, was sentenced to 10 years in prison by a court in Minsk in early March. Three other activists, associates of Bialiatski, were sentenced to 7 to 9 years in prison. The convicts had already been recognized as prisoners of conscience and the criminal case against Wiasna as politically motivated.
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Source: wPolityce