It's a hot August morning. At 5 Horns Square in Warsaw, families with children and tourists sit for Saturday breakfasts. any consternations look at the steel cage in the mediate of the square.
– Is this for animals? – a female in English asks.
No, no 1 here will be locked up against their will. This cage is simply a symbol.
The steel construction in sizes of 2x2 metres represents the oppression of the Belarusian society, carried out by the government of Alexander Lukashenka. In the prisons of our east neighbours there are now almost 1.2 1000 prisoners and prisoners of conscience.
Who are the prisoners of conscience?
The cage represents the feelings of these people. Of course, they experience closures, but they are besides constantly watched – they share their explanation of Julia from Warsaw.
– Minimum individual space, deficiency of basic human rights, only a strict cage, even without a bathroom," says Alessio, who came to Warsaw from Rome.
Both, though they had heard of the hard political situation in Belarus, had not heard the word “prisoners of conscience”.
– They are people who have been imprisoned by regimes, most frequently their own countries, but not necessarily, just and exclusively due to the fact that they have exercised human rights or acted for them. What is crucial, they did not usage force in their fight – explains Anna Błaszczak-Banasiak, manager of Amnesty global Poland.
According to data presented in June this year by Belarusian human rights defenders, the Lukashenko government presently holds 1164 prisoners and prisoners of conscience.
– This cage is intended to symbolize the prison, which is simply a tool frequently utilized by the Belarusian government to punish those who want to exercise their basic rights," says Anna Błaszczak-Banasiak.
– But it is besides a symbol of isolation. This represents a immense challenge for both the imprisoned and their loved ones and for us. Very frequently we do not know what happens to them. They frequently have no contact with the outside world: relatives, lawyers, doctors. Sometimes it is only from their released fellow prisoners that we learn what is happening to them – adds the manager of the Polish branch of Amnesty International.
– erstwhile I spoke to people from Belarus in Poland, they told me that they thought this cage was not a good symbol. Unless there would be respective people sitting there – Alexander Stachurski, Amnesty global activist and author of the analysis Permanent temporaryity, describing the legal situation of Belarusian citizens in Poland and the European Union.
"It is worth noting, therefore, that even this cage is not able to full express the hard situation of prisoners of conscience in Belarus," Stachurski added.
A twelve years of penal colony for fighting for human rights
Slavery, severance from fundamental rights and isolation – this is the reality of prisoners and political prisoners under Alexander Lukashenko.
Among almost 1,200 prisoners is Maria Kalesnikawa – a musician and opposition activist who, after thwarting her effort to expel her from the country, was sentenced in 2021 to 11 years of penal colony.
In the same year Andrzej Poczobut – a Polish-Belarusian writer and activist of the Polish minority, sentenced in 2023 to 8 years in prison in a penal colony with severe security.
A akin destiny happened to Nast Loika and Marfa Rabkova – 2 human rights activists. Loika was arrested in October 2022. It was electroshocked and kept outside for hours at low temperatures. She was prosecuted for “extremistic actions” and was sentenced to 7 years in a penal colony.
Rabkova was detained with her husband in September 2020. She was sentenced to 14 years and 9 months of penal colony. Despite her very bad wellness situation, she is deprived of medical care.
Their stories, as well as many another prisoners of conscience held by the government of Alexander Lukashenko, can be found on the run page “Lost Dailyity” . There you will besides sign petitions which call on representatives of the Polish government to exert force on the authorities of Belarus and draw their attention to the situation of those enslaved behind our east border.
At Amnesty global Poland, you can besides make a donation to publicise the situation of prisoners of conscience and to supply advocacy so that the global community does not stay indifferent and respond erstwhile their rights are violated.
