On Sunday, October 06, 2024, Bremen hosted the 19th SWB marathon; Pavel Sakalouski, a Belarusian union activist, took part in the race. He ran 10 km wearing a T-shirt featuring a call to release political prisoners in Belarus.
The organizers broke the marathon into to a number of distances, one of them was the 10 km one which Pavel ran. His T-shirt featured the picture of Aliaksandr Yarashuk, leader of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions (BKDP) sentenced by Lukashenka’s regime to four years in jail. This union leader found himself behind bars like dozens of other activists who refused to show loyalty to the Belarusian authorities. According to human rights defenders, currently, there are around 1400 political prisoners in the country.
Pavel Sakalouski explained his participation in the marathon as a way to attract public attention to repressions in Belarus. He stressed that terror has been unleashed on citizens and workers in the country who are deprived of access to any legal remedy that could effectively protect their rights.
“Aliaksandr Yarashuk has been victimized for his trade union activities. People should not suffer for their activism and trade union activities, but this is exactly what happens in Belarus”, says Pavel Sakalouski. “I have dedicated this run to Aliaksandr Yarashuk and all political prisoners in Belarus who have been unlawfully condemned.”
At the start of the race and after the finishing line people approached Sakalouski, intrigued by the face on his T-shirt, and learnt about the situation in Belarus.
It is symbolic that the Bremen marathon was run on October 06, the day when the first democratic and independent trade union in modern Belarus was created. It is on that date that the founding congress of the Belarusian Independent Trade Union (BNP) took place.
Pavel Sakalouski is a former shop steward in a workplace union affiliated to the BNP that was dissolved by the Belarusian authorities. He had to leave the country and emigrate to Bremen with his family to avoid a prison sentence for his activities. Now he is a member of the association Salidarnast e.V. bringing together Belarusian union leaders and activists who were forced into exile.
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