Statement of BKDP Executive Committee #26
English translation of original statement in Russian

We declare that Svetlana Tikhanovskaya received the support of the absolute majority of the Belarusian people in the presidential elections held on 9 August 2020.
However, as a result of falsifications unprecedented in their cynicism and scale, the Central Elections’ Committee declared Alexander Lukashenko the winner.
The Belarusian people do not recognize Lukashenko as the legally elected president, and mass protests have begun throughout the country. The ruling regime that continues to forcefully keep itself in power, with a brutality that is shocking to the whole world, inflicts reprisals against participants in peaceful protests. The unprecedented brutality of the security forces has resulted in human casualties.
We demand an immediate end to the repression, reprisals and killings of Belarusian citizens; the immediate release of all persons illegally detained; the closure of all criminal cases related to participation in mass protests; and the release of all political prisoners.
The labour strikes that are already taking place in the country show the growing political activity of the workers. By illegally holding onto power, the regime is leading the country to economic collapse: bankruptcy and closure of enterprises, loss of jobs, and poverty.
Because we are aware of our responsibility in relation to the consequences for workers, their possible dismissals and the initiation of criminal cases, we do not call on workers to join or start strikes, which are already taking place at a number of enterprises. However, we believe that workers, like all the Belarusian people, are the only source of state authority in the country and that they have the full right to take part in any actions of civil disobedience against usurpation of power.
We call on the members of independent trade unions, and all working people in this fateful hour, to show their best civic and human qualities in order to return lost rights and freedoms and together with the people, to restore the legality and operation of the Constitution in the country.

Statement of BKDP Executive Committee #27
English translation of original statement in Russian

The political regime that has usurped power as a result of rigged presidential elections is brutally cracking down on participants of peaceful protests and on journalists.
Members of independent trade unions have also been subjected to repression. The former chairman of the Belarusian Independent Trade Union and the the head of the national strike committee in 1991, Nikolai Zimin, was sentenced illegally to 25 days imprisonment, and the chairman of the UMTO of the Independent Trade Union of Miners, Maksim Sereda, to 12 days. Ivan Roman, journalist and activist of the Free Trade Union of Metal Workers, was brutally beaten and fined.
We demand an end to the reprisals, including reprisals against participants in peaceful actions and against journalists; the prosecution of those responsible; and the immediate release of Nikolai Zimin and Maksim Sereda.