Andrei Sannikov: Businessmen can't protect themselves in the dictatorship

The head of the "European Belarus" Civil Campaign Andrei Sannikov spoke in front of the faculty and researchers of the University of Minnesota.

Below is the summary of this presentation written by the US journalist Margaret Shannon Snoeren.

“Businessmen, in particular, don’t know how to protect themselves in the dictatorship of Belarus today,” said Andrei Sannikov, human rights activist and former Belarus presidential candidate, speaking at the University of Minnesota today about the current economic and political conditions in Belarus. The event was organized by Political Studies Department and Institute for Global Studies.

“The economy,” Sannikov said, <>i“has remained unreformed. There has been no meaningful privatization. Lukashenko needs to control everything. He makes empty promises to the people and when he can’t fulfill them, Russia bails him out.”

Dictator Alyaksandar Lukashenka has ruled Belarus since his election in 1994. “He plays an East-West game with Moscow and the Economic Union (EU), “ explained Sannikov, “And, he ensures all elections are rigged to keep him in power.” 

A former diplomat who opposes Lukashenka, Sannikov was a leading candidate in the 2010 national election, with a “strong team of two former heads of state, three generals and wonderful young people.” Yet, when he joined a peaceful demonstration of 40,000 opposition supporters in Minsk’s central square the night of the election, he was savagely beaten and jailed before the results declared him as coming in second.

“I was faced with a menu of charges, from terrorism to spying to organizing mass disorder” he remembers, “and was sentenced to five years in prison.” Only with the help of international pressure and sanctions from the European Union (EU) did he obtain freedom and asylum in England. His journalist wife has not yet been allowed to leave Belarus.

The audience asked where Lukashenko gets his support and what motivates him. Sannikov responded that the majority of the population oppose the dictatorship. “A high percentage of the young are leaving the country,” Sannikov said, “and the EU reviews the refugee applications from Belarus quite quickly.” 

As to Lukashenka’s motivation, Sannikov believes he denies the identity of Belarus and doesn’t have any ideology. “Lukashenko even changed the national coat of arms and flag to reflect Soviet ones, ignoring the history and culture of Belarus. Lukashenka has one motivation, to retain his power.”

Sannikov says he travelled the country during the 2010 campaign and no one spoke positively about the regime; people complained about contract law among other things. There were only reports of “law on slavery” for workers. Belarus economy survives on Russian credits.

Sannikov believes the future of Belarus needs strong support for democracy movement, monitoring from international human rights groups. “Belarus does not meet its obligations under many of the international treaties and United Nation pacts on human rights.

“I believe Belarus can move forward very quickly after Lukashenko and retains a great potential to become part of European family”.