Zmitser Bandarenka: Germany should know that Belarusian riot policemen are NKVD successors

Charter’97 coordinator calls upon the German Federal Ministry of the Interior to pay attention to the fact that they cooperate with Belarusian punitive forces.

On May 7 Zmitser Bandarenka took part in the memorial rally dedicated to former Interior Minister Yury Zakharanka abducted and assassinated 10 years ago. Dozens of participants of the rally were beaten up and detained.

“I think Lukashenka has finally freaked out, and he decided to make a present to the European Union in the form of mass arrests on the day of the Eastern Partnership summit. It was noticeable in the beginning of the rally that something is to happen today. Riot policemen could hardly wait for the end of the rally dedicated to the memory of General Zakharanka, and then fully manifested their beasty instincts. Young activists were detained in metro, at bus stops; people were detained by in mufti and dragged to cars. I saw many arrests myself. It is surprising how the leadership of the Federal Ministry of the Interior of such a civilized country as Germany could start contacts with Minsk riot police. The name of this Belarusian punitive detachment sounds exactly like a Specialized Designation Police Detachment. These myrmidons are successors of the NKVD [the public and secret police of the Soviet Union during the Stalinist era]. We remember that once in history the NKVD cooperated with the gruesome German service of Hitler’s time, but today’s German police is a police of a developed democratic state. It is interesting into whose mind has the idea of cooperation of German police and Minsk riot police (Specialized Designation Police Detachment) flashed?” the human rights activist asks.