Political prisoner Natallia Hersche has been released. This was stated by Ignazio Cassis, the president of the Swiss Confederation.
Endlich! Natallia Hersche wurde heute nach 17 Monaten Haft in Belarus freigelassen. Sie wurde von ihrem Bruder und @SwissAmbBelarus empfangen und kehrt nun in die #Schweiz zurück. Ich bin froh, dass sich die diplomatischen Bemühungen der Schweiz ausgezahlt haben. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/8ro6ivEYO1
— Ignazio Cassis (@ignaziocassis) February 18, 2022
«Natalia Hershe was released today, after 17 months in a Belarusian prison,» he tweeted.
Natallia’s brother and the Swiss Ambassador to Belarus met her. She returns to Switzerland.
«I am glad that Swiss diplomatic efforts have paid off. We together with the Swiss Embassy in Belarus continue to call for the release of all those arrested for exercising political and civil rights,» Kassis added.
Switzerland recently sent a new ambassador to Belarus, Christine Honegger-Zolotukhin. She has already presented copies of credentials to Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei. The media wrote that the presentation of credentials to Aliaksandr Lukashenka may also take place.
Political prisoner Natalia Hershe is a citizen of Belarus and Switzerland. She was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for ripping off a OMON officer’s balaclava at one of the women’s marches. In September 2021 she was transferred from the penal colony to prison: she refused to sew uniforms for the enforcers in the colony. In November, a special commission on the substitution of punishment ruled that she «did not take the path of correction».
Source: Reform.by
