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The former candidate for the presidential election in Belarus Svetlana Tichanovskaya
Photo: Mindaugas Kulbis / dpa
The Belarusian opposition activist Svetlana Tichanovskaya campaigned for support for their democracy movement in front of the UN Security Council on Friday.
During an online meeting, she asked the United Nations to send an international surveillance mission to Belarus to document police violence against mostly peaceful demonstrators.
At the same time, the 37-year-old proposed a special session of the UN Human Rights Council to discuss the human rights situation in her home country.
At the meeting initiated by Estonia, Tichanovskaya also called on the international community to use all mechanisms, including sanctions, to stop the violence.
"I would like to make it very clear that working with the regime of Mr. Lukashenko at the moment means supporting violence and blatant violations of human rights," she said.
According to Tichanovskaya, Lukashenko desperately clings to power and refuses to listen to his people.
"A nation cannot and should not be hostage to a man's hunger for power - and it will not be. The Belarusians have woken up," said the opposition.
The situation is irreversible.
The authoritarian leadership in Minsk is "morally bankrupt, legally questionable and, from the point of view of our nation, simply unsustainable."
In Belarus, there have been mass protests against the authoritarian ruling head of state Alexander Lukashenko since the controversial presidential election in early August.
The 66-year-old had been declared the winner for the sixth time in a row after 26 years in power.
The opposition, on the other hand, is claiming the election victory for Lukashenko's challenger Tichanovskaya, who left Belarus under pressure from the authorities and went to safety in Lithuania in exile.
A coordination council with representatives of civil society has been set up in Belarus for a peaceful transfer of power.
"We are ready and open to a dialogue with all sides, all parties and all countries that respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Belarus," stressed Tichanovskaya.
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