"Poland has supported, is supporting, and will continue to support efforts for the fastest possible democratization of public life in the Republic of Belarus," said Polish Minister of Justice Adam Bodnar during today's (May 17) meeting with the Deputy Head of the United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus, Head of the National Anti-Crisis Management, Ambassador Pavel Latushka.

Ambassador Pavel Latushka informed about the extremely rapidly growing scale of violations of fundamental human rights by the regime of Alexander Lukashenko. These concern the recent initiation of over a hundred criminal cases and repressions against opponents of the current regime. He pointed to the increasing phenomenon of serious human rights violations, torture, and the mass use of sanctions against the families of oppositionists. He also shared the concerns – expressed by a significant part of Belarusian society – about the insufficient reaction of the European Union to the political and social consequences of the authoritarian rule of Lukashenko.

During the conversation, topics were also raised regarding the situation of political prisoners in Belarus, cooperation with representatives of independent Belarusian institutions, and the legal responsibility of the regime of President Alexander Lukashenko.

Pavel Latushka is a Belarusian politician and diplomat, former ambassador of Belarus to Poland. In August 2020, after the presidential elections falsified by the Belarusian authorities, he joined the Coordination Council. The Council is an organization opposed to the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko.

The head of the United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus is Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, a candidate for the President of Belarus in the elections that took place in August 2020.

At the end of October 2020, Pavel Latushka became the head of the National Anti-Crisis Management, a shadow cabinet created by the Coordination Council.

In August 2022, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya announced a declaration on the establishment of the United Transitional Cabinet. Pavel Latushka is responsible for conducting the process of taking power by the new cabinet. In March 2023, the Belarusian court sentenced him in absentia to 18 years in prison.