Wilmington, Delaware Nov 12, 2026 (Issuewire.com) - The Belarusian Representative Assembly (BRA) officially announces the formation of the International Working Group of Former Political Prisoners and Experts. It is created to bypass political gatekeeping and bureaucratic delays. The task force of the committee unites human rights experts and former detainees to focus strictly on saving lives and securing immediate releases. The core principle of this newest formation heavily relies on direct transatlantic advocacy. This allows the associates to engage directly with decision-makers in the US, EU, UK, and Switzerland.
Members operate as Public Speakers or Protected Anonymous Experts to ensure safety. Furthermore, it gives the group independence from grant monopolies and political opportunism. "Human lives cannot depend on bureaucratic reports or political games. Former prisoners must speak directly for themselves," said Tamara Queen, President and CEO of BRA.
The formation of the group was accelerated by several incidents and causes, including the most prominent one, which is the humanitarian emergency behind bars. According to human rights registries, a massive number of recognized political prisoners remain incarcerated under severe state persecution in Belarus. Many of them have already died in custody, while the physical condition of multiple high-profile detainees has worsened significantly, including conditions like impending blindness, active cancer, and other critical health conditions.
Following these, 135 former political prisoners have issued an open letter to European Leaders as well. The former hostages directly petitioned European institutions and Western governments to become active participants in securing prisoner releases. In their open letter, they demanded the deployment of all available leverage- including direct diplomatic channels, negotiation formats, sanctions pressure, and economic incentives-to rescue critically ill hostages.
However, the urgent plea was declined by established political leaders and traditional human rights figures. This led to the official submission of demands by the Belarusian Representative Assembly. The document was signed by President and CEO Tamara Queen. In it, the BRA outlines four non-negotiable mandates for international policymakers. These are “Human Lives Over Political Convenience”, “Unified Transatlantic Front (USA, EU, UK, Switzerland)”, “Complete Elimination of Repression”, and “Direct Inclusion of Civic Authorities”. This further led to the formation of the International Working Group of Former Political Prisoners and Experts. Read the open letter at: https://openletter.belarusian.org/ and learn more information at: https://assembly.belarusian.org/blog/political/.
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