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Marches of Dignity mark 2nd anniversary of rigged elections in Belarus

Thousands of people, including Belarusian political refugees, gathered in the Polish capital city of Warsaw, Białystok and other European cities to mark the second anniversary of the presidential election rigged by the Minsk regime. The March of Dignity was an opportunity to express solidarity with the repressed ones and show that the idea of ​​a free and democratic Belarus is still strong.

The Warsaw march started at 3 pm and moved from Constitution Square through the streets towards the city centre. People were carrying white-red-white flags – a symbol of the democratic Belarus – as well as the Ukrainian ones.

“This was the day our voices were stolen. But also the day when we stood up to defend our rights,” the organisers of the March of Dignity wrote, recalling the 2020 elections.

"To był dzień, w którym skradziono nam głosy. Ale także dzień, w którym powstaliśmy w obronie naszych praw" – wspominali organizatorzy Marszu Godności w zapowiedzi wydarzenia.
W sierpniu 2020 roku setki tysięcy Białorusinów domagało się przeprowadzenia uczciwych wyborów
?Biełsat pic.twitter.com/9bGJQkF54k

— Biełsat (@Bielsat_pl) August 7, 2022

The audience sang the famous “Walls” in front of the Warsaw headquarters of the European Commission – a song that two years ago became the informal anthem of the democratic opposition in Belarus.

Belarusians sing protest songs near the building of the European Parliament in #Warsaw.

Long live Belarus ?❤️? pic.twitter.com/obncl6imeV

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) August 7, 2022

A similar event was held in the northeastern city of Białystok, as well as other European cities.

TVP journalist sentenced to five years in jail in Belarus

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The last presidential election was held in Belarus on August 9, 2020. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the candidate of the opposition, won in the committees that counted the votes fairly. However, the regime announced that Alyaksandr Lukashenka won the elections for the sixth time. This sparked a nationwide outburst of rage that escalated into mass protests and, in some places, riots.

The Belarusian revolution was bloodily crushed by the militia and secret services, as thousands were detained.

Currently, 1,262 political prisoners are held in the regime’s arrests and penal colonies, including opposition leaders, musicians, thinkers, human rights defenders, social activists, scientists, lecturers, trade unionists, students and journalists.

Most recently, Iryna Slaunikava, a Belarusian journalist working for TVP and a long-time associate of Belsat, an independent Belarusian TV deemed by Minsk “extremist”, was sentenced for 5 years behind bars under two articles of the Belarusian Criminal Code: Article 342 “Organisation and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order or active participation in them” and Article 361.1 “Establishment or participation in an extremist formation”.

Such and similar charges of this nature are often used by Lukashenka’s regime against dissidents from the democratic opposition.

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