Ihar Makar: Almaz officers laugh at Lukashenka

The brother of fled police captain thinks 80% of law-enforcement officers are against Lukashenka.

Narodnaya Volya newspaper reported yesterday police captain Syarhei Makar had to hide abroad after 15 years of service in riot police. He fled because KGB officers wanted him to ambush his brother Ihar Makar, a former officer of KGB special detachment Almaz. The Secret services wanted the police captain to call his brother to Belarus. After the escape, Syarhei Makar told journalists about political search department in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, lack of confidence in the government among policemen and falsified ballots of blind people, soldiers and students.

Belsat TV journalists talked to Ihar Makar, who had to flee from Belarus some years before his brother's escape. The former Almaz officer still has to hide his location.

“When I worked for Almaz, everybody laughed at speeches by Lukashenka. We laughed at him like at Zhirinovsky. It was really funny! All have said and still say he is a lout,” political refugee Ihar Makar says.

Two variants for Kazulin

After retirement from Almaz, Ihar Makar worked in a security team of Alyaksandr Kazulin. “Squad commander Karpyankou and Uladizmir Navumau [then minister of internal affairs] were looking for me ahead of the 2006 election. The decided about Kazulin that he should be removed from political area. There were two variants. The first one – I was to help to dig dirt on Kazulin. In principle, they promised to help me even with money. The second variant was to remove him physically,” Makar says.

80% of law-enforcement officers are against Lukashenka

He refused to fulfill the order and had to leave Belarus. But he keeps in touch with friends and knows news in law-enforcement agencies: “A social analytical department was formed in the KGB. Fifteen members of the department focus on the opposition. They look for photos and even fingerprints of different people. The second department for active and passive wiretapping was created. The departments are permitted to wiretap everyone they want without informing higher officials.”

Are there officers in the law-enforcement agencies who are ready to jain people in their struggle against the regime? “If people take this decision and a wave of discontent with the authorities spreads, 80% of officers of police, law-enforcement agencies and internal troops will support citizens on a condition they will feel confident about their future,” Ihar Makar says.