Mayor of Bremen Meets Belarusian Trade Union Leader Aliaksandr Yarashuk

On 26 January, a meeting took place at the Bremen City Hall between Aliaksandr Yarashuk, Chairman of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions (BKDP), and Andreas Bovenschulte, President of the Federal Council of Germany and Mayor of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. The meeting was also attended by representatives of Salidarnast e.V. and Christian Wechselbaum, head of the Bremen branch of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB).

The meeting was held as an open dialogue. Andreas Bovenschulte inquired about the current situation in Belarus, the conditions faced by workers and trade unions, and possible scenarios for developments in the country.

Aliaksandr Yarashuk provided a detailed account of the conditions in which political prisoners are held in Belarusian prisons, the treatment they receive from prison authorities, and the pressure exerted on trade union activists.

Special attention was given to the circumstances of his release. Yarashuk emphasized that his release in September 2025 was expulsion from the country: he was taken out of Belarus without documents, means of subsistence, or any legal status – which became a new form of repression by the Lukashenka regime.

During the meeting, Aliaksandr Yarashuk expressed gratitude to the authorities of Bremen and the German government for supporting Belarusian trade union activists in exile and for their steadfast solidarity with the independent trade union movement of Belarus. Participants also discussed the activities of Salidarnast and the BKDP, including efforts to protect the rights of Belarusian workers at the international level.

At the end of the meeting, Christian Wechselbaum, head of the Bremen DGB branch, proposed that the Mayor of Bremen who currently also serves as President of the Federal Council of Germany invite a group of representatives of the Belarusian trade union movement to the Bundesrat. The purpose of such a meeting would be to directly inform representatives of states about the situation in Belarus and trade union political prisoners.

Aliaksandr Yarashuk is one of the most respected leaders of the independent trade union movement in Belarus. Since 2002, he has headed the BKDP, is a member of the Governing

Body of the International Labour Organization (ILO), and serves as Vice-President of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). In April 2022, he was arrested following searches and later sentenced to four years in prison. In 2023, the Belarusian authorities added him to the so‑called “extremist list.”

On 11 June 2025 in Oslo, Aliaksandr Yarashuk was awarded the Arthur Svensson International Prize for Trade Union Rights in recognition of his years of struggle for trade union freedom and the workers’ rights in Belarus. It is one of the most prestigious awards in the field of workers’ rights.

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