The United States imposed a series of visa restrictions on Belarusians due to the government’s “continued crackdown” on opposition figures, adding democracy icon Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski.
The restrictions announced Tuesday target 25 people, bringing to 322 the total number of Belarusians facing denials of U. S. visas for “undermining democracy” since President Alexander Lukashenko was re-elected in 2020 in overwhelming polls rejected by opposition and foreign observers, the United States added. government and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), as a farce.
Rights activists have estimated that around 1,500 more people are recently imprisoned in Belarus on politically motivated charges.
“We will not stand idly by as this regime continues to harass and repress nonviolent protesters, the democratic opposition, journalists, industry unionists, activists, human rights defenders and Belarusians,” U. S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
The latest steps come as the trial of Tsikhanouskaya, Lukashenko’s rival in 2020, begins in Minsk.
The opposition leader, who fled the country and has been living in exile in Lithuania since the election, denounced the trial in a tweet on Monday. He faces several charges, treason and a sentence of up to 15 years in prison.
“I am accused of more than 10 crimes. Nothing,” he posted. It is just the revenge of a pathetic dictator who has lost strength and seeks revenge on all those who fought for freedom. Belarus wants genuine justice, not a puppet show.
Tsikhanouskaya is on trial with Volha Kavalkova, head of the Coordination Council, the framework to facilitate the democratic transition in Belarus.
In its statement, the U. S. State DepartmentHe also referred to the founder of the Belarusian Sports Solidarity Foundation, Alex Apeikin, and Belarusian Olympic swimmer Aliaksandra Herasimenia, two activists who in December were convicted of committing acts “aimed at harming national security” and sentenced to 12 years. absence.
The State Department also denounced the prosecution of Nobel Peace Prize laureate and “political prisoner” Ales Bialiatski, whose trial for fees similar to protest funding and cash smuggling began in early January.
Among the Belarusians targeted across Washington were members of Belarus’ National Assembly, for “their role in passing the law allowing the death penalty for those convicted of alleged ‘terrorist attempts,’ a rate used to suppress and intimidate democratic opposition and civil society,” Blinken said in the statement.
He added that some of those censored had also supported the law stripping citizenship and allowing the seizure of the assets of opponents in exile.