Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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190. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his views on the release of Belarus opposition leader Sergei Tikhanovsky after five years. [37105/25]

Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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191. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his views on the state of human rights and personal freedoms in Belarus. [37106/25]

Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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192. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the steps he will take at European Council level to continue to apply pressure on the Lukashenko regime in Belarus to promote respect for, and compliance with, human rights and international law; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37107/25]

Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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193. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the number of Irish citizens currently resident in Belarus; if any are currently incarcerated; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37108/25]

Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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194. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the direct contact Ireland has had with the Lukashenko government in Belarus in the past year, or five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37109/25]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 190 to 194, inclusive, together.

Belarus continues to live under the shadow of repression. I remain extremely concerned at the ongoing erosion of human rights and democracy in Belarus.

I am deeply conscious that the people of Belarus have been continually denied access to free and fair elections and a real voice in the governing of their country. The so-called presidential election of January 2025, like that of 2020, cannot be considered to have been free or fair.

The Lukashenko regime’s relentless and unprecedented repression of human rights, restrictions on political participation and access to independent media is intended to stifle opposition voices and shore up its own illegitimate authoritarianism.I welcome the recent release of several political prisoners, including former Presidential candidate, Mr Sergei Tsikhanouski, husband of exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Days after his release Mr. Tsikhanouski addressed the UN Human Rights Council and outlined the inhumane and degrading conditions endured by political prisoners in Belarusian detention facilities and called on the UN to intervene to save these lives. I commend his courage and commitment to the values of freedom and the wellbeing of his fellow Belarusians.

I share Mr. Tsikhanouski’s grave concerns about the treatment of the estimated 1,160 political prisoners in Belarus and reports of their systemic, habitual and widespread mistreatment. Shockingly, since May 2021, at least eight political prisoners have died in the regime’s captivity.

I reiterate Ireland’s longstanding position that all political prisoners must be released and that the regime must end its repressions against the Belarusian people.