WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish leaders met Tuesday with the wife of imprisoned Belarusian human rights campaigner and Nobel peace laureate Ales Bialiatski to stress Warsaw’s continued support for Belarus’ democratic opposition and political prisoners.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau held meetings in Warsaw with Natalia Pinchuk, while President Andrzej Duda was also due to see her.
Bialiatski is one of Belarus’ top human rights advocates and one of the winners of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize. He was sentenced earlier this month to 10 years in prison, the latest move in a years-long crackdown on dissent that has engulfed the ex-Soviet nation since 2020.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Lukasz Jasina said Rau told Pinchuk that Poland was doing all it could to help Bialiatski, considering him a hero and his wife a symbol of his struggle.
Speaking to reporters, Pinchuk said she has had no contact with her husband since his sentencing earlier this month. She said the last time she was with him was on Nov. 10, when they were separated by glass and spoke through a telephone.
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