Belarusian opposition activist Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk spent four years in solitary confinement as a political hostage of the Lukashenka regime.
Yet this week she was able to speak in the European Parliament to mark International Women’s Day, thanks in part to the efforts of MEPs, especially President Roberta Metsola, to free her.
She called on the EU to pressure the Belarusian regime to release its thousands of political prisoners like her.