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UPDATE: Warsaw marchers mourn Belarusian rape victim

06.03.2024 23:30
Around a thousand marchers took to the streets of Warsaw on Wednesday to pay tribute to a young Belarusian woman who died last week after being brutally attacked and raped in the Polish capital, according to reports.
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Photo:PAP/Paweł Supernak

The march, held under the slogan "Her name was Liza," was also a protest against sexual violence, Polish state news agency PAP reported.

Mourners gathered at the crime scene in downtown Warsaw to light candles and place flowers.

"Liza came to Poland in search of a better life, and in Poland her life was taken away from her," Maja Stasko, the protest's co-organiser, told the gathering. “She was completely alone in this place. We are here for her right now.”

In recent years, Warsaw has become a hub for Belarusians fleeing repression and Ukrainians fleeing war, the AP news agency reported.

Poland-based Belarusian opposition politician Pavel Latushka was among those who participated in the rally.

Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who lives in exile in Lithuania, wrote on her website: “We cannot bring Liza back to life. But we can be her voice, the voice of all women who have experienced violence. Because silence is not an option here.”

A 23-year-old Polish man, identified only as Dorian S., has been detained and charged with the crime, according to reports.

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Source: IAR, PAP, APAFP

Click on the audio player above to listen to a report by Radio Poland's Ada Janiszewska.