Svetlana Tikhanovskaya is the leader of the opposition in Belarus, currently exiled in Lithuania.
Alexander Lukashenko refuses to step down or hold a new round of elections. His armed thugs are brutalizing ordinary people who hold up flowers and signs as they call for a different life. Thousands have been rounded up and housed like cattle in tiny, overcrowded jail cells without access to water, sanitation or horizontal sleeping positions. Torture is now commonplace. Belarusian Nobel Prize-winning writer Svetlana Alexievich has remarked, “I only know such stories from the Stalin era.” Such crimes have only strengthened the conviction of the Belarusian people that Lukashenko has to go.
Although our uprising is not directed against any other country, the Kremlin is offering Lukashenko crucial support in the forms of security assistance, significant financial support and propogandists who disseminate pro-regime propaganda on Belarus state television.
Under intense pressure, I was forced to temporarily relocate to neighboring Lithuania, where I remain safe and ready to stand in a new round of elections that should be conducted under the watchful eye of the international community. My friend and fellow fighter for free Belarus Maria Kolesnikova remains imprisoned without trial or conviction, along with many others. It is our duty to keep fighting in her name and the names of others facing similar fates. I demand her release and the release of the thousands of activists, journalists and ordinary people who were detained without cause.
We remain grateful to the European Union and the United States for their vigorous moral and technical support. We appreciate the efforts of the current American administration, which has recently expanded sanctions on Belarusian officials responsible for undermining democratic processes in our country. I am personally thankful to Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun for meeting with me and expressing his commitment to help Belarus’s democracy movement.
Yet we cannot stop there. We need more help from the United States, even in this complex transitional period. I appeal to the U.S. Congress to swiftly pass the Belarus Democracy, Human Rights, and Sovereignty Act of 2020.
This bill will expand the scope of those who can be sanctioned under U.S. law for their complicity in the repressions. At the same time it will provide support to independent media and technology for circumventing state censorship. Access to information is the strongest weapon in our possession. Lukashenko’s efforts to stifle the free flow of information and hide his violent crackdown cannot go unanswered.
I hope the House and Senate can reach agreement before the end of the year. Time is of the essence.
The regime is brittle and in dire need of financial support. Under Lukashenko, the Belarusian economy has not grown for the past decade. The economy has entered a financial crisis; the exchange rate has plummeted by 20 percent this year.
The United States is not the only country watching. As of last month, the European Union approved sanctions on 59 individuals while at the same time introducing personal sanctions against Lukashenko. But as Belarusian people continue to flood the streets despite appalling weather conditions and escalating violence from the state, we need the international community to intensify its support. Congressional action in Washington would have the additional effect of encouraging Brussels to issue its own robust response.
The people of Belarus have endured Lukashenko’s rule for more than two decades. They want a better life, and they are convinced that democratic change is the best way to achieve it. Our protests are not pro-West or anti-Russia — they are pro-Belarus.
I hope to travel to Washington during the inauguration week to personally thank the current administration for its work to help the people of Belarus. At the same time, I look forward to developing a strong relationship with the new administration in order to facilitate democratic transition in Belarus. Together, the free world will prevail.
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