Valery Shchukin: It Won’t Be Possible To Re-educate These Authorities

A human rights activist Valery Shchukin believes that Lukashenka won’t meet the EU requirements concerning former political prisoners’ rehabilitation.

The Council of Ministers of the EU has suspended the sanctions against Belarus for four months, but it is to become clear in February, when the EU countries are to return to the subject, whether the sanctions would be permanently lifted.

“In February, when the sanctions are to be reviewed, we are to consider four groups of questions,” Estonia's foreign minister Marina Kaljurand said at the conference “Rubicon – 2015”. “First of all, what will happen to the former political prisoners at the moment of review: whether they are rehabilitated, what rights they would have, what is to happen in the moment of reviewing with these concrete persons and other political prisoners.

Secondly, there would be close attention to the ODIHR/OSCE report on “elections”, which details O do not want to discuss now – let them finish the work, let them write how the elections had been held. The third group is everything concerning the freedom of expression and freedom of the media. And the fourth part: what situation with freedom of assembly would be.”

A human rights activist Valery Shchukin in his interview to Radio Racyja assessed the possibility of former political prisoners’ rehabilitation in Belarus:

- I think there would be no rehabilitation of political prisoners. In such a case the authorities would have to recognize officially that the people had been kept in prisons illegally, underwent humiliation. It would be necessary to reinstate their rights in all spheres, to compensate for moral and material damages for the lost years. A logical question suggests itself then: why they had served their terms in prison? And who is going to bear responsibility? It is another matter that Europeans mean something different under the notion of “political prisoners’ rehabilitation,” something we do not know. One thing is clear: the authorities would not agree to any kind of rehabilitation. They have already released “political prisoners” through gritted teeth. And it has been made only because it is necessary to improve the relations with the West, as they need money. One simply cannot count on changing or reforming this regime.

- The issue of the sanctions is to be reconsidered in February…

- That is why the authorities are acting so carefully now, without any considerable crackdown on activists. Look at the rally in front of the KGB building – the remand prison in Akrestsin Street would have been packed at any other time, and now they have just drawn up administrative offence reports, people are going to be punished by fines. By the way, Mikalai Statkevich has already enough penalties, so he could be subject to a preventive supervision. It is a different story, whether the authorities need that now. So far they had been bearing it clenching their teeth. But it is unknown for how long it could last.