<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The Spanish government celebrated this Saturday "the great news of the release of Belarusian opposition leader Sergei Tikhanovski and thirteen other political prisoners" and thanked "the United States for its diplomatic involvement in achieving this result."</strong></h4> "This release must be followed by the same outcome for the more than one thousand Belarusian opposition members who remain in the country's prisons simply for trying to exercise their fundamental freedoms," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared in a statement. "Both they and their families deserve the full solidarity of the Government and people of Spain," it added. "Spain maintains its firm commitment to democracy and human rights in Belarus, as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the European Union, and Cooperation (José Manuel Albares) had the opportunity to convey to the leader of the Belarusian democratic opposition, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya," during her visit to Madrid this Friday. Sergei Tikhanovskiy was arrested in 2020, two days after announcing his intention to run in the presidential elections against President Aleksandr Lukashenko. As a result, it was his wife, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who ran in the election, but was defeated in an election whose results she refused to recognize and called fraudulent. In December 2021, Tikhanovskiy was sentenced to 18 years in prison for "organizing mass riots, inciting hatred, and promoting actions that seriously disrupt public order." On the social media platform X, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya thanked US President Donald Trump and "European allies" for helping to free her husband. Lukashenko met in Minsk with US special envoy Keith Kellogg before announcing the release of the fourteen dissidents held in Lithuania. During their meeting this Friday, José Manuel Albares conveyed to Svetlana Tikhanovskaya Spain's "firm commitment to freedom and democracy" in her country and addressed, among other topics, the situation of the Belarusian diaspora in Spain and our country's recent voluntary contribution in support of the victims of Aleksandr Lukashenko's repression. Albares reiterated his support for the victims of repression in Belarus, as well as those abroad. "We must maintain our pressure on Belarus with restrictive measures, both in response to the internal situation and in response to the regime's support for Russian aggression against Ukraine."
