A Day of Solidarity with Belarus is an action proposed by the

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

ian journalist

Iryna Khalip Iryna Khalip (or Irina Khalip; be, Iрына Халiп, russian: Ирина Халип) (born November 12, 1967) is a Belarusian journalist, reporter and editor in the Minsk bureau of ''Novaya Gazeta'', known for her criticism of Belarusian Pres ...

, supported by the civic initiative '' We Remember'' and the ''

Zubr Zubr may refer to: *Żubr or Zubr, the name in several Slavic languages for the wisent or European bison (''Bison bonasus'') *Zubr (political organization), a civic youth organization in Belarus *''Zubr'', a novel by Daniil Granin * TOZ-55 "Zubr", a ...

'' movement. :''Let us all together switch off the light in our apartments for several minutes on October 16 evening, and put burning candles on the windows. We should imagine Belarus in which we could live. Maybe everything is to start with that. Dark cities, dark windows, where only shadows of burning candles are seen - this could become a mirror for us to see that we are really many!'' It was offered to announce October 16, 2005 to be a Day of Solidarity with Belarusian "

political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although n ...

s", the "

disappeared An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person by a state or political organization, or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organi ...

" persons

Yury Zakharanka Colonel Yury Zakharanka (Belarusian language, Belarusian: ''Юрый Захаранка'', Russian language, Russian: ''Юрий Захаренко'', ''Yuri Zakharenko''; January 1, 1952 – 1999) was the Belarusian Ministry of Internal Affai ...

Viktar Hanchar Viktar Hanchar, or Viktar Hančar ( be, Віктар Ганчар, russian: Виктор Гончар, Viktor Gonchar, September 7, 1957 – September 16, 1999?) was a Belarusian politician who disappeared and was presumably murdered in 1999. He w ...

Anatol Krasouski Anatol is a masculine given name, derived from the Greek name Ἀνατόλιος ''Anatolius'', meaning "sunrise". The Russian version of the name is Anatoly (also transliterated as Anatoliy and Anatoli). The French version is Anatole. A rarer ...

, and

Dzmitry Zavadski Dmitry Alexandrovich Zavadsky (russian: Дми́трий Алекса́ндрович Зава́дский) or Dzmitry Aliaksandravich Zavadski ( be, Дзмітрый Аляксандравіч Завадскі; 28 August 1972 – declared dead ...

, their families, and other advocates of a transition to representative democracy and to a market economy in Belarus. Belarusians are called to turn their light off for 15 minutes on October 16, at 8 p.m, and put burning candles to their window boards as a solidarity sign. An estimated 100,000 people took part in the action. Encouraged, it was proposed to carry out this action on 16th day of each month.

External links

The English language home page of the initiative
a

Joint Baltic American National Committee The Joint Baltic American National Committee, Inc. (JBANC) is a non-profit organization that monitors issues affecting Baltic-American communities in the United States and the nations of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. JBANC functions as the ...

press release
Solidarity with Ales Bialiatski
{{Belarusian democracy movement Belarusian opposition Politics of Belarus 2005 in Belarus

See also

External links