General documents - Statement on the release of the Belarusian activist Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk - Delegation for relations with Belarus

• by Mr David MCALLISTER, Chair of the EP Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET)
• by Małgorzata GOSIEWSKA, Chair, on behalf of the Bureau of the EP Delegation for Relations with Belarus
• by Mr Helmut BRANDSTÄTTER, AFET standing rapporteur on Belarus

Brussels, 4 February 2025 - We received with great relief the information about the release of a prominent Belarusian opposition figure Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk, activist with the civil campaign European Belarus.

Arrested on 3 January 2021 in brutal crackdown against peaceful protesters following the fraudulent 2020 presidential elections, Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk spent four years and one month in a penal colony in Belarus where she was held in unbearable conditions, exposed to torture and inhuman treatment. Over the years, Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk was placed several times in prolonged solitary confinement with no access to proper medical care, in blunt violation of Belarus' obligations under international law.

On 19 January 2024, following a complaint filed by her husband Andrei Sharenda against Belarus on discrimination and unlawful incarceration, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) took unprecedented action. The Committee requested Belarus to "take urgent measures to provide comprehensive and appropriate medical care to Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk, and to ensure that her life, physical and mental integrity are safeguarded", setting a landmark precedent in the Committee's case law against Belarus.

We welcome this development as a critical step towards addressing human rights violations. However, our concern remains profound. Today, we emphasise our serious concerns about thousands of Belarusians imprisoned on political grounds who are being kept in horrendous conditions, facing torture, denial of medical care, and restricted contact with family members and lawyers.

We reiterate our call on the EU and its Member States to:

• support political prisoners and their families;
• request their immediate and unconditional release at every opportunity;
• simplify visa procedures for Belarusians fleeing the regime.

We urge the EU and its partners to continue exerting pressure on the regime by:

• broadening and strengthening sanctions against individuals and entities responsible for repression in Belarus;
• targeting those responsible for Belarus's participation in Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine;
• specifically addressing the issue of forced labour of political prisoners.