Ales Bialiatski asks Italian activists to continue fight for political prisoners in Belarus

The head of the Human Rights Center “Viasna” Ales Bialiatski shared his impressions of his visit to the Italian region of Sicily and Lombardy, held at the initiative of Amnesty International’s national section.

According to the human rights activist, he was struck by a sincere desire to improve the lives of Belarusians, especially in the protection of personal dignity and their freedom. “During conversations with people, I realized that freedom and democracy for the Italians are not just words, but very important values, ​​for which they had fought for a long time,” said Ales Bialiatski.

“As a result of meetings at the Universities of Palermo and Milan, as well as with representatives of the municipality of Syracuse, numerous conversations with community activists, I became convinced that the Italian society is genuinely interested in what is happening with human rights and democratic processes both throughout our region, and particularly in Belarus,” he said.

This conclusion is reinforced by the fact that during his imprisonment activists of Amnesty Italia sent to the Administration of the President of Belarus petitions demanding the prisoner’s release, of which more than three thousand were collected in Sicily alone.

During meetings at various levels, which were held in various Italian cities, Viasna leader talked about the urgent problems of human rights in Belarus. “Today, Belarus has six political prisoners. And I called on Amnesty activists to continue to fight for their release and for the abolition of the death penalty in our country,” said Ales Bialiatski.