«We wanted to draw attention to the issue of political prisoners in Belarus»

There were around 12 thousand people taking part in the Bremen marathon, including two of our fellow-countrymen, Pavel Sakalouski and Yauheni Dzenisenka, in the 10 km leg of the run who used the opportunity to draw attention to the issue of ongoing repressions in our country. That is why they came to the starting line wearing sweatshirt that featured the call for “Freedom to Political Prisoners in Belarus”.

Pavel Sakalouski, one of the leaders of the Belarusian Independent Union’s affiliate at the Belaruskali potash fertilizer plant in the past, has told Salidarnast that last year he also took part in the marathon.

“But then I was alone and I had a sweatshirt with the picture of Aliaksandr Yarashuk (President of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions, Vice-President of the International Trade Union Confederation, a member of the International Labour Organization’s Governing Body, and a former political prisoner – S.). Today Aliaksandr Yarashuk has regained his freedom but other political prisoners in Belarus still linger in jail, including union activists.

“Last year, when people came to me and asked who was the man in the picture on my sweatshirt, I told them about Aliaksandr Ilyich, said that he was in prison for his views; well, this year we wanted to draw attention to the situation of all political prisoners who still linger behind bars in Belarus. I have a dream that a year from now there would be no political prisoners in our country and I could run the marathon in a shirt calling for support of a new, independent Belarus.”

Yauheni Dzenisenka, an activist of the Salidarnast Association noted in his interview:

“Pavel has invited me to run this year after he learned that I was also into running, like himself. Our leg of the marathon had around 2 thousand registered participants. And we’ve decided that this time we will register as the Salidarnast Association. And since the marathon attracted so many people we thought it would be another opportunity to draw their attention to the situation in Belarus and the issue of political prisoners there who are still in jail, including 21 union activists.

This is why we came to the event wearing sweatshirts that had “Freedom to Political Prisoners in Belarus” printed on them, that was our political message.”

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