The Day of Solidarity with Belarusian Political Prisoners is celebrated on May 21. On this day in 2021, political prisoner, public and political figure Vitold Ashurak died in the Shklou’s colony.
Back on May 19 an interactive exhibition called “Walls” opened in the center of Warsaw near the monument to Nicholas Copernicus. Photos of political prisoners of Belarus were placed on a stylized wire in the open air, the Radio Liberty reports.
The rally was attended by former political prisoners who recently left Belarus. They talked about the harsh conditions in detention, about torture. At the end of the action, the Belarusian artist Yana Shostak held her famous performance “A minute of screaming”.
The day before in the gallery “Duży pokój” (ul.Warecka 4/6) the photo exhibition “Sleep well” has opened, which tells about Belarusian political prisoners. The exhibition was created by Polish photographer Piotr Vuitsik and Belarusian journalist Iryna Arekhouskaya.
A solidarity rally with Belarusian political prisoners was taking place in Bialystok on May 21 near the Consulate of Belarus.
On May 21, the People’s Embassy of Belarus in Italy organized a rally in Rome, where representatives of the political parties Fratelli d’Italia, Partito democratico, Più Europa, candidate for the European Parliament Olga Surinova, as well as representative of the People’s Embassy Yulia Yukhno were present.
A performance with the participation of former political prisoners Anastasia Bulybenka and Vitaly Zhuk took place in Florence. The action took place at the walls of the Nelson Mandela Forum, near the cage in which the famous public figure spent 18 years.
During the performance, there were two chairs on both sides of the cage, on each of which activists Asya Bulybenka and Vitaly Zhuk were sitting. Letters from Viktar Babaryka, Palina Sharenda-Panasyuk, Marfa Rabkova and other political prisoners in Italian were heard in the background. After the performance, the political prisoners were handcuffed and they went inside the cage.
And the opening of the exhibition of the artist Ksisha Angelava took place in Turin, Italy. Until May 24, almost 400 portraits of Belarusian prisoners can be seen in the National Student Library of Turin.
A solidarity rally with political prisoners was also held in the Lithuanian capital on May 21.
In the UK, a solidarity rally was held in London’s Parliament Square.
A solidarity rally with Belarusian political prisoners was also held in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland.
In Belgium, the head of the mission of democratic Belarus in Brussels, Uladzimir Astapenka, took part in the rally.
In Zurich, Switzerland, former political prisoners, members of the Belarusian-Swiss association RAZAM and human rights defenders of the Swiss branch of Libereco were among the participants of the solidarity action on the occasion of the Day of Political Prisoners.
On May 20, photos of political prisoners Vitold Ashurak, Mikalai Klimovich and Ales Pushkin, who died in Belarusian prisons during 2021-2023, appeared in Moscow near the Belarusian embassy.
