Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya to visit Switzerland

Tikhanovskaya also hopes to be able to meet with Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva. Keystone / Clemens Bilan

She is planning a visit to Switzerland in March to ask authorities to launch an investigation into the “hidden assets” of President Alexander Lukashenko.

Currently living in exile in Lithuania, Tikhanovskaya intends to make the most of a trip to the Alpine nation, according to an interview published in the paper Le Temps on Saturday. She hopes to discuss the human rights situation in Belarus with the President of the Swiss House of Representatives Andreas Aebi, whom she had already met last autumn in Vilnius.

She also intends to advise the Swiss authorities on the best way to help obtain the release of the Swiss-Belarus dual national who has been detained since mid-September for taking part in a protest against President Lukashenko. 

In mid-December, Switzerland had extended its sanctions against the regime in Minsk, placing Alexander Lukashenko, his son Victor and 13 other people on its blacklist of persons targeted by the sanctions. Their assets are frozen and they are prohibited from entering or transiting Switzerland.

Tikhanovskaya also hopes to be able to meet with Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, to launch an international investigation into crimes committed in Belarus in recent months. The Human Rights Council is due to unveil a report next week on the human rights situation in the country.