Shushkevich: Independence is impossible with dictator

The former chairman of the Supreme Court commented on the statement of European Parlaiment President Jerzy Buzek on the situation in Belarus.

“The sanctions have been suspended,” Jerzy Buzek told in an interview to Radio Racyja. “I will say in a general sense, because this is a very important issue. The Belarusian opposition, I often talk to, make aims in such a sequence: independence of Belarus as the prime aim, then – democratic Belarus. This is the sequence. It happens sometimes that one needs to shift away from democratic hopes to preserve independence. I am not saying this is good and this is bad. We know about persecution of the opposition in Belarus, we know how it is hard for free mass media to start their work, we know that all. But when I talk to oppositionists, they define this order of the aims. This must tell us something.”

“Jerzy Buzek could hear such words about the Belarusian opposition only from Alyaksandr Milinkevich,” Stanislau Shushkevich said. “Nobody else has had meetings with Buzek. I am very disappointed that his understanding of the situation is so primitive. Independence is impossible with Lukashenka. This man destroyed all sprouts of democracy and independence. And continues to destroy. Only naive, primitive and narrow-minded people can say this. It’s a pity such a respectful person, whom I respect, as Jerzy Buzek is mistaken. Independence is impossible with dictator, independence is impossible in anti-democratic Belarus.”