Maxim VinyarskI: Only political adventurers will take part in “election”

Apart from the fact that the power in the country is retained forcibly and illegally, no “election” is possible in the country, while political prisoners are staying behind the bars.

Such an opinion has been expressed in an interview to charter97.org website by a coordinator of European Belarus civil campaign Maxim Vinyarski.

The civil society activist has been recently released after a 10-day administrative arrest, which followed after a rally of solidarity with a political prisoner Yury Rubtsou. It should be noted that the administration of the remand prison of Minks district had not returned a photo camera of Maxim Vinyarski seized by riot policemen during detention, and the memory card of the camera was “to be destructed”, according to the materials of the case.

- How do matters with the property which disappeared after your arrest stand?

- So far I have addressed only guards of the remand prison of Minsk district on the issue concerning returning of my property. I was said that they didn’t have a camera, it was not brought to them after our detention and trial. They recommended to address the court of Minsk district, where the sentence was passed upon us, and in this way they tried to shun any responsibility for my disappeared things. Now I plan to go to court, I will try to find out what has happened to the memory stick of the camera. Frankly speaking, I do not understand that why my personal property should be destroyed. Even if they think that the information of this memory card has something to do with the materials of the administrative case, they should copy that, save that at their computers. But what are the reasons for destroying the property?

- In the situation when crackdown on civil activists continue non-stop, what is your evaluation of an opportunity to participate in the “presidential election” on October 11?

- At the moment no election is possible in the country, if only because that the Central Election Commission is headed by the person who had been many times caught in rigging election results. Secondly, one of the candidates, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, who retains power illegally, cannot call an election or campaign for presidency. Even proceeding from these facts, no election is possible under such conditions.

Besides, Mikalai Statkevich, a candidate for presidency in the previous election, stays in prison. People, who are officially recognized political prisoners, are kept in prisons for their political beliefs. And under such conditions only political adventurers can run in the “elections” to boost their rating. No decent person would participate in the “election.” The only honest position could be a position of acknowledging that the power in the country is retained illegally and forcibly. But no “election” is needed for that. It has been demonstrated by Ukraine, where public discontent was not pinned to the date of the presidential election. And when political adventurers now are talking about participation in the “election” at present, they are simply trying to find “a place in the sun” for themselves, and they do not care about any changes to happen in the country.