During her visit to Portugal, Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya visited the Aljube Museum. The current museum was once a prison for political prisoners. Up to 50 thousand prisoners were held here from 1926 to 1965. Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya recalled that Portugal was the penultimate country in Europe to get rid of the dictatorship. Belarus will be the last.
During her visit to the Aljube museum in Portugal, Tsikhanouskaya stated that in the new Belarus the TDF on Akrestina, like the Aljube prison, would become a museum – a museum of resistance and freedom.
In Aljube, about 50,000 political prisoners were held by the Portuguese regime from 1926 to 1965. The political prisoners had no contact with their families and loved ones, they were kept in cramped cells and endured violence and harsh treatment. Tsikhanouskaya noted that all this is happening in Belarus now.
“The memory of political prisoners, their suffering and everything they went through will forever remain in the history of Belarus.”
During her visit to the prison, Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya met with Lisbon Mayor Fernando Medina and Deputy Mayor Catarina Vás Pinto, wife of UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
The former presidential candidate emphasized that Belarus, as well as Portugal, aspires to a peaceful transition of power. April 25 is Portugal’s Independence Day, while Belarus will celebrate Freedom Day on March 25. Svyatlana urged the mayor of Lisbon Fernando Medina and the whole Portuguese society to support the Belarusians on this day.
