Natallia Radzina: There Is A Way To Release All Belarusian Political Prisoners Very Quickly

• 11.02.2025, 13:23

At the same time, this will protect workers' rights.

An activist of the European Belarus civil campaign, former political prisoner Palina Sharenda-Panasyuk held her first press conference in Vilnius. The well-known oppositionist called for not negotiating with Lukashenka, as well as for introducing new sanctions against the regime.

Editor-in-Chief of the Charter97.org website Natallia Radzina, who moderated the press conference, told Radio Svaboda about the significance of Palina Sharenda-Panasyuk's statements:

— Firstly, I would like to say that Palina is a very courageous woman. After leaving Belarus, she told about all the torture she had to endure in Belarusian prisons. This is a real GULAG. What happens to women there is simply terrible.

Palina herself called Belarusian prisons a slaughterhouse, where both men and women are tortured and killed today. It was also important that she spoke about the pressure on political prisoners.

The Editor-in-Chief of the Charter97.org website is convinced that it was thanks to the sanctions that Palina Sharenda-Panasyuk was released:

— The sanctions are having a very strong impact on the situation in Belarus today. First of all, on the economy. As far as I know, the economic situation is really on the brink of disaster.

Russia is no longer able to save the Lukashenka regime and subsidize the country's economy as it did in previous years, because there is a war going on, and the Russian Federation itself is suffering great losses, including financial ones. Therefore, Lukashenka's regime has big problems, and he would very much like the sanctions that were imposed against Belarusian potash and oil products to be lifted today.

Natallia Radzina responded to experts who talk about the “sustainability of the regime's economy”:

— Firstly, today we have no information on how sanctions are affecting the Belarusian economy. All these abstruse experts who talk about the “wonderful” state of the economy, where do they get their figures from? Almost all figures in Belarus are either fake or classified. Today, not a single expert, including BEROC and other analytical centers, has adequate information about the Belarusian economy.

The sanctions are in effect and are destroying the regime's economy. However, we should not expect this to happen tomorrow. Of course, there are problems with the fact that the sanctions that were introduced are being bypassed en masse. The European Union, from time to time, one package after another, closes these holes. We know that sanctioned goods are sent to the EU using fake documents, but this still has a negative effect on Lukashenka's economy. And it's good that these sanctions exist.

If we want sanctions to be introduced and start working the next day, there are such opportunities. It is necessary to close the transit of goods through the territory of Belarus. If an embargo on trade is introduced, in three or four days the Lukashenka regime will release all political prisoners. After all, this will affect not only the economy of Belarus, but also Russia and China, because Chinese goods go to Europe through our country. This is the only land route.

It may seem impossible to introduce these sanctions. But there is a reason for their application. Let me remind you that Article 33 of the Charter of the International Labor Organization was applied against the Lukashenka regime. This article implies the introduction of an embargo on trade with Belarus and a ban on the transit of goods through our country. If Western countries had the political will, they would be able to introduce these sanctions, which would be very effective. People could be released from prison very quickly.

Natallia Radzina also commented on the statement by head of the Conservative Christian Party-Belarusian Popular Front Zianon Paznyak that Palina Sharenda-Panasyuk was released because he “made such a request to Lukashenka,” and “the only way to free political prisoners is to negotiate with the regime”:

— I don’t believe that Lukashenka listens to Paznyak. If he did, we would have seen this back in the late 90s. When there was no Internet, Paznyak sent faxes to Lukashenka’s regime.

I believe that there is no other way to influence the Lukashenka regime except pressure. If the dictator releases all political prisoners, I will only welcome the lifting of sanctions against the regime. But let him release every single political prisoner, the thousands and thousands of people who are being tortured in Belarusian prisons today, let him stop the political terror that has been going on in the country for five years now. After all, dozens of people are being released today, and hundreds are going to prison. And there are more and more political prisoners.

If Zianon Paznyak is so brave, let him go to Minsk and negotiate with Lukashenka. Buy a bus ticket, go to Belarus and talk to the dictator. Let's see the result.

The Editor-in-Chief of the Charter97.org website noted the importance of the former political prisoner having spoken about the punitive psychiatry that Lukashenka's regime uses against its opponents:

— Punitive psychiatry was used by the USSR authorities against dissidents. We remember how this happened to Vladimir Bukovsky, Valeria Novodvorskaya, Natallia Gorbanevskaya, whom I knew personally. These are terrible things, just torture, and the regime must be held accountable for this. It is very important that Palina spoke about this. I think that new sanctions may be introduced. The fact that Palina endured all this once again shows that she is a very courageous woman and the pride of Belarus. After all, only a strong person who loves Belarus and believes that it will become free can go through physical torture and psychologically unbearable conditions.

When I arrived in Vilnius and met with Palina, we talked for five hours non-stop. I saw before me a person who did not lose faith that Belarus would be free even in these conditions. This is an example for all of us. It is shameful in emigration today to say that “life is hard for us and we don’t know when we will return home.” We must do everything we can, and we can do a lot. If people go through hell and still have faith in change, how can we say we have lost it?