‘Despite so many difficulties I wish you and your lonesome families good Christmas. Christmas is a time we spend with  our loved ones. You are not given this chance, but your fearless attitude brings hope to your fellow Belarusians’, read Minister Radosław Sikorski’s special wishes to political prisoners in Belarus.

Among those who received Minister Sikorski’s wishes were: former presidential candidates, imprisoned and often held in gruesome conditions: Andrij Sannikau and Nikolaj Statkiewicz as well as a distinguished human rights activist Ales Bialacki. Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski also sent a similar letter to the leaders of democratic movements united under the ‘6 plus format’ as well as to the activist of independent human rights movements. The letter was sent, among others, to Uladzimir Niaklajeu, Aleksander Milinkiewicz, Wital Rymaszeuski, Anatol Lebiedzka and Stanisław Szuszkiewicz.

‘The entire democratic world is with you’, Minister Sikorski writes. ‘It is a Polish custom to always leave an extra chair at the Christmas Eve table. This year, this empty seat will remind me about my Belarusian Friends.’

Marcin Bosacki
Press Spokesman