Viktar Ivashkevich: People’s Assembly and People’s Court

A few months ago an initiative to hold People’s Assembly on October 8 was proposed.

The national organizing committee and all local organizing committees (and they have been already established in 31 cities) unite members of all democratic candidates for presidency, who had done a lot to get across the truth about the current regime during the latest presidential campaign. For more that 10 years a co-chairman of the organizing committee Henadz Fyadynich has been organizing work of the independent trade union of radio and electronic industry, which is defending rights of workers despite all difficulties. Stanislau Shushkevich, who was the leader of Belarus in 1991-1994, is now actively advocating rights of democratic Belarus abroad. Active members of the organizing committee are Syarhei Kalyakin and Viktar Karnyaenka, who organized and was in charge of election observation, which made it possible to detect concrete facts of rigging election results. Leu Marholin, a businessman from Barysau, had been in charge of organizing entrepreneurs’ struggle for their rights for many years. Vintsuk Vyachorka and Vaclau Areshka have been doing and are doing a lot for development of independent NGOs and initiatives. Zmitser Barodka and Yauhen Afnagel have been always engaged in active work for informing people about the real situation in the country through “Vybar” newspaper and Charter-97 website. I have been publishing the newspaper of independent trade unions “Rabochy”, and I served a one year’s sentence in a penal colony for an article about corruption in the presidential administration.

We have been nudged for this idea by lawless, bandit-style robbing of the whole population (a sudden devaluation of Belarusian ruble and crazy price advance), thuggish violence against people who had courage to tell the truth about the today’s regime (incarceration of presidential candidates Andrei Sannikov, Mikalai Statkevich, Dzmitry Uss and dozens of other political prisoners) and indignation at meanness and insolence of the Belarusian dictator, who is sure he will get away scot-free.

Just look what the authorities have done in just a few months.

On May 23 the Belarusian ruble was devaluated by 56%, with one sweep Lukashenka deprives people of more than a half of their monthly pay.

Because of devaluation the average size of pensions in dollar terms decreased from 193 (as of early May) to 115 dollars. Pensioners have become poorer by 40% at once.

Meanwhile inflation in Belarus this year has already reached 36.2%. But in reality, basic consumer goods have become 2-4 times more expensive. Even the government admits that prices are to continue to grow.

As of early May, household deposits in national currency were 10.1 trillion rubles, or 3.3 billion dollars, when the exchange rate was a little more than Br 3000. However, as a result of devaluation the volume of deposits in rubles dropped to 2 billion dollars in equivalent. That means, depositors have been robbed of 1.3 billion at once.

And what’s next? Are we to look silently at the things the government is doing? Or should we start defending our property, our families, rights and dignity?

The main demand of the People’s Assembly is to return to people what had been stolen form them!

Return salaries and pensions to the level of the beginning of the year (in the U.S. dollar equivalent)!

Return 1.3 billion dollars lost as a result of devaluation to bank depositors!

Stop price advance!

Give people a possibility to exchange currency freely and to repay foreign currency loans in Belarusian rubles!

As long as hundreds or even thousands of people protest, no one would listen to them. Only when in dozens of Belarusian cities hundreds thousands of citizens would take to the streets, the authorities would be compelled to listen to our demands!

And the dictator has money, and besides he has his own money.

Moscow estimated his possessions at 8-12 billion dollars – such a figure was announced by NTV channel. The US estimations are almost the same. The reports of US diplomats placed at Wikileaks website are speaking about $9 billion. Arms trade earnings, trade in goods confiscated at customs, interest of transit and re-export of goods to Russia, lotteries and gambling games, lease of state property, hotels, tourism and many other spheres – all that is received by the presidential fund and accounts of the presidential department for property management. Lukashenka alone controls the purse strings of these structures as his personal possessions. No one else controlled these sums ever.

Belarusian oil refineries operate at a loss not because oil is expensive, or there is no demand for their products. In 2007 the government created a closed structure – Belarusian Oil Company, a closed joint stock company, which takes all earnings from oil products trade, and other plants get paid insignificant sums just for doing work. Where this money goes, how much the company pays as taxes, or does it pay taxes at all – is known to no one, as it is a closed enterprise, and that means not obliged to give an account. It is not on the list of major tax payers in Belarus, at any rate.

Lukashenka’s entourage is siphoning off money from state-owned enterprises in the same way. “Delo”, a Ukrainian-based newspaper, evaluates property of the head of the state-run enterprise BelTechExport Uladzimir Peftsiyeu (Vladimir Peftiev) at billion dollars. Arms trade, is a highly profitable business. But why the money got into the pocket of the director of the state enterprise? This year the EU imposed sanctions on this person, as Lukashenka’s private banker.

The authorities must reveal earnings of closed funds and companies. Let Lukashenka’s entourage disclose their financial returns and explain their sources. These are billions of dollars!

And at last, the dictator should sell dozens of his residences, personal planes, helicopters, cars and golden watches, and settle debts to people!

And if Lukashenka sneezes at the demands of the people, we will gather for the People’s Court, and not the People’s Assembly, and bring him to justice for swindle.

Can these actions be defined in another way if:

On December 17, ahead of the presidential elections, Alyaksandr Lukashenka said: “We have enough international reserves, approximately 6 or 7 billion dollars, to satisfy any demand for foreign currency. We do not need to devalue the national currency.”

On March 17, 2011, the chairman of the Belarusian National Bank Pyotr Prakapovich assured: “There won’t be one-time devaluation while I am the chairman of the board of directors of the National Bank.”

On April 16, Lukashenka promised: “We will settle the situation with the foreign currency today or tomorrow. This is a matter of a few days, maybe a week.”

On May 12, Lukashenka lied: “We will forget any troubles with foreign currency in a month or two.”

On May 23, Lukashenka made just one move and took a half of people’s wages and bank deposits.

All political prisoners must be released and their places in prisons must be taken by real criminals, who robbed their own people so meanly.

The Constitution of the Republic of Belarus says: “The people shall be the sole source of state power and the bearer of sovereignty in the Republic of Belarus. The individual, his rights, freedoms and guarantees to secure them are the supreme value and goal of the society and the State. The State shall assume responsibility before the citizen to create the conditions for free and dignified development of his personality. The people shall exercise their power directly, through representative and other bodies in the forms and within the confines determined by the Constitution.”

When prosecutor’s offices, courts and police turn from defenders of people into the punitive forces of the dictator, the people has the right to take protection of rights upon itself , to elect people’s judges, people’s jury, people’s officers of court to try and punish the criminals.

Moreover, such people’s courts are an old Belarusian tradition. They were known in Belarus since the old times to the end of the 18th century (till annexation by the Russian Empire) as “kopny” (popular, people’s) courts. Popular court was a court of a village or a town community performing the functions of investigation and delivering judgments. It acted on the ground traditional laws and was called on a request of the victim. The judgment depended on a degree of guilt of the offender and the scale of damage he made.

Popular court issued fines, obliged to compensate for the damage or sentenced to death (by hanging). Decisions of such courts were considered final and usually were implemented immediately.

We will go on national strike and organize non-stop demonstrations on central squares of Belarusian towns, if needed, but we will achieve our aims.

But in order to make the People’s Assembly and People’s Court really people’s, we need participation of hundreds of thousands of citizens morally supported by millions of Belarusians. In this case, dictator’s hangmen will not be able to hinder us. They will think twice before opposing the whole nation and becoming criminals.

Holding the People’s Assembly is not forbidden. Moreover, it cannot be forbidden.

The Constitution says: “The citizens of the Republic of Belarus shall take part in discussion of issues of state and public life at republican and local meetings.”

We have an acting Law on Republican and Local Meetings, under which initiators should form an initiative group, formulate demands to the authorities, collect signatures of 10% of populations of their town, or town district, or residential area, or a town quarter, or a street, or yard, or a village (depends on possibilities of the initiative group and the gathered signatures). A signature sheet must contain citizen’s name, surname and patronymic, date of birth and personal signature.

Under the law, initiators define the day, time and place of the People’s Assembly, inform population about this, while the authorities do not have the right to ban or not to permit it.

The authorities must be informed about the meeting 15 day prior the beginning. It’s better to choose the place of gathering defined by local executive committees as places for mass public events.

Of course, the authorities can violate the Constitution, laws, even the common sense and hinder holding of people’s assemblies, when only tens or hundreds of people come. But no one can impede if we are hundreds of thousands across Belarus.

Finally, the People’s Assembly and the People’s Court should decide that:

people must be returned everything they were stolen from;

incomes of closed funds and companies must be disclosed to public;

criminals, who have been robbing and torturing Belarusians, must be punished;

all political prisoners must be freed;

really free elections must be held allowing the people of Belarus to elect their new authorities. The newly elected officials will know that they will meet the destiny of predecessors if they lie and give impossible promises.

Many say: “What can I do? Nothing depends on me. It will be as God decides.”

I’d like to tell a parable. One man strongly believed in God. Once there was a flood in his village. The man got onto the top of the roof and began to pray. The water approaches the roof soon. A boat was floating by his house. “Let’s go with us!” people called. “No, I won’t. God will save me,” the man replied. When the water approached his chest, he saw a boat again, but refused to get in again. The water reached his chin when he saw the third boat, but he again said: “God will save me!” The man drowned and saw God. “My God! Why did not you save me? I trusted in you so strongly!” he asked. “You stupid,” God said. “I sent you three boats, why did not you use them?”

Viktar Ivashkevich

You can contact the organizing committee of the People’s Assembly via:

our website: www.narodnyshod.org,

e-mail: narodnyshod@gmail.com,

Skype: kate.liudvih,

telephones: +375297744968, +375447160622, +375296815737, +375259514003.