Martin Uggla: Belarus Is a Very Favorite Country

There are many good people in Belarus who want to help build a better country.

Today, April 26, marks the 25th anniversary of the human rights center Viasna. On this occasion, our correspondent Eva Bardzilouskaya spoke with the guest of the radio Martin Uggla, chairman of the Swedish human rights organization Ostgruppen (Swedish initiative "For Democracy and Human Rights").

For the last 14 years, Martin Uggla has not visited Belarus - he is denied a visa. As it became clear to Martin that the reason for this is that he is actively raising the issue of human rights violations in Belarus in Sweden.

- Martin, you are a Swede, and you know the Belarusian language. How did you learn it?

- I visited Belarus 20 years ago for the first time and then met with the "viasnoutsy," members of the organization Viasna. It was a Belarusian-speaking environment, and I was interested. I already knew Russian at that time, and I began to study Belarusian on my own here in Sweden since it is not taught in university courses, unfortunately.

- Is it a difficult language to learn?

- Of course, at first, it was difficult, but eventually, I learned the language, and now, although with mistakes, I can speak Belarusian quite fluently. And now, it seems to me, it is not so difficult.

- Ostgruppen, as it is written on the website, aims to cooperate with Eastern Europe, and also expresses great interest in Belarus. To then bring to the Swedish society what is happening in Belarus. And why is Sweden interested in Belarus at all?

- In general, Sweden knows very little about Belarus. And this is a pity because we are almost neighboring countries. Therefore, I think it is very important that we know about the situation in the neighboring countries. And that is why it has become our task to spread information about what is happening in Belarus. So that the Swedes also discover this country for themselves. Although, of course, there are many problems. For me, for example, Belarus is a very favorite country because there are many good people in this country who want to help build a better country.