Panevėžys City Council unanimously approved a Resolution on Violation of Human Rights in the Republic of Belarus and the partner city Vitebsk.

“Panevėžys City Municipality has received an appeal from Belarus Sister City Solidarity Movement on the complete legal default in the country. We have been informed that due to fabricated cases hundreds of Byelorussians are currently in prisons and pre-trial detention centers. Their families have lost the opportunity to communicate with their loved ones; many of them have lost the opportunity to feed their children. For political prisoners, international solidarity is a very important element of support. I would like to remind that the City of Vitebsk has been a partner city of Panevėžys since 2018. We have signed a cooperation agreement based on the further development of civil society relations, thus, we are obliged to show solidarity. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania supports the initiatives of Belarus Sister City Solidarity Movement. The ministry also supports the decision of Panevėžys City Council to adopt a resolution on the situation in Belarus and political prisoners, ” says Rytis Račkauskas, Mayor of Panevėžys.

By the Resolution, Panevėžys City Council addresses the Chairman of the Vitebsk City Executive Committee Vadim Vladimirovich Zaryankin, the Members of the Committee and calls on:

• steps to end the use of force against the peaceful people of Belarus, guarantee the right to freedom of expression, assembly, rallies, marches, demonstrations and pickets, and to stopping of any violence perpetrated by state power structures against the peaceful population, both through their actions and by the request of Belarusian national authorities;

• steps to secure the immediate release of all imprisoned members of the opposition and civil society.

It also encourages supporting the people of Vitebsk requiring free, transparent and democratic elections.