Paval Sevyarynets: “There are more dissent criminal cases today than in Soviet time”

The situation with human rights in Belarus is getting worse, representatives of the oppositional political parties say.

Vintsuk Vyachorka, first deputy head of the Belarusian Popular Front party, commenting on the human rights situation for Radio Svaboda, notes that the Belarusian authorities compensate for release of political prisoners in other repressions:

“Release of political prisoners is compensated in the repressions of other type. It includes administrative arrests, expelling from universities. Now the students, who have been in jail for the last weeks, feel pressure upon.”

Paval Sevyarynets, founder of the Christian Democratic Party, thinks, the human rights situation in Belarus is getting worse lately:

“There are more dissent criminal cases, political criminal cases in Belarus today than in the 1970ies. In other words, today’s repressions have exceeded the level of repressions in the period of stagnation. One more alarming signal is when people over high-profiled and famous cases can be released via Europe’s pressure or bargaining with it, but the awful dynamics of administrative arrests, expelling from university and dismissals is growing. The human rights situation in the country is becoming worse.”