Natallia Radzina: Don’t lengthen rule of weak dictator

By release of political prisoners Alyaksandr Lukashenka sells them to the West like human slaves, as he had banally run out of money.

It was said by Natallia Radzina, the editor-in-chief of the oppositional news website charter97.org in the interview to the Lithuanian news portal DELFI. As said by her, Russia is in a profound crisis now, so it is even advantageous for the Kremlin to let Lukashenka “run on a short leash to graze in the European field.”

- To your mind, why Lukashenka has released political prisoners? What is he trying to achieve in this way?

- It is certainly not a good will or “humanism”, as it was said in the decree of release of all prisoners of conscience. For almost 5 years Lukashenka had been keeping these people in prisons, they were tortured and subject to humiliating treatment, which could hardly be imagined by an average European. There is a Museum in Lithuania, and there is a prison there. Visit it. The same Stalin-type prisons are still functioning in Belarus.

- Now Lukashenka is selling political prisoners to the West as human slaves, as he had banally run out of money. For 21 year his regime had been supported by Russian money and energy resources, every year the Kremlin was investing billions in unsustainable, unreformed and creaky economy of Belarus, in the form of irretrievable credits and cheap oil and gas.

But Russia is going through a profound crisis itself. In fact, it is even advantageous for Putin now to let Lukashenka “run on a short leash to graze in the European field – let Europe feed his until he is spending money on the war against Ukraine.

Lukashenka is a terrorist, he takes hostages and release them only when it is advantageous for him. The same was with me in 2010. I was released from the KGB prison on recognizance not to leave the place one day before the Council of Europe was to consider the question about economic sanctions against the Belarusian regime.

- Can we suppose that Europeans are going to answer to that by scaling back the sanctions?

- Yes, it’s true, and it is going to be the greatest stupidity of European officials. Are terrorists encouraged after release of hostages? Even if they would be able to escape, they are searched for by police, special services, the Interpol later. So why in the politics essentially the same terrorist is offered an award in the form of lifting sanctions against him?

Narrow-mindedness of some European officials is simply astonishing. Today Lukashenka is as weak as never before. Not only his dictatorship is falling apart, the economy of Russia is on the verge of collapse, and such dictatorships are highly dependent on it. So use this chance! Today any contacts or loans for Lukashenka should be preconditioned by tough requirements to hold real, not cosmetic, reforms in the country – to hold the full reinstatement of all former political prisoners in their rights, to put an end to any crackdown on dissenters, to return freedom of speech, associations and meetings, and finally – to hold free elections.

For two decades Lukashenka is retaining the power with the help of falsifying, assassinations, arrests and intimidation of dissenters. Lifting the sanctions and moratorium on contacts with Lukashenka by the European Union before these conditions fulfilled could be considered as a criminal policy, which aim is to extend the dictatorship in Belarus.

- How the upcoming elections and the release of the political prisoners are connected?

- As I have said already, Lukashenka has released political prisoners as he needs money. The show which is called “the elections” is also held by him with only one aim – for the West to recognize them legitimate and continue political and economic contacts with him. There are no “elections” in the country for 21 year already, votes in support of the dictator are shamefully falsified.

What “elections” at all could be talked about after the year 2010, when the peaceful rally of people on the square with legal demands to count their votes honestly ended in a bloody disbanding and massive arrests in the style of 1937? I remind, foreign ministers of the EU countries then stated that Lukashenka was snowed under in the election. So why they are dealing with an impostor today?

This year the democratic opposition refused to participate in another farce, people are set to boycott the election and not to go to polling stations. Two Belarusian presidential candidates Andrei Sannikov and Mikalai Statkevich stated that it is necessary to hold a new election in the country, with new candidates, with real rivalry and under the international observation. And this is the initiative the West should support today, and not to try to straighten out a hunchback and lame dictator.

- Do the political prisoners have a field of activity after release; is the opposition neutralized or limited in its actions?

- All former political prisoners are disqualified, for a former prisoner of consciousness any active participation in the political life results in new criminal cases and arrests. For example, Vasily Parfyankou, arrested in December 2010 as well, after the same “pardon” by Lukashenka served several terms in prison again, only because he dared to take part in a street rally again.

Every from the released political prisoners could be thrown behind the bars any moment. People are simply liberated from a small prison and go into a larger one, as Belarus has turned into a prison today.

From my personal experience, when I left the KGB prison on recognizance not to leave, I was placed under a total control by secret services. When I wrote an article for charter97.org, which displeased the authorities (for example, about sanctions, or when I told about tortures in prison), I was detained, taken to the KGB and threatened to be put behind the bars again. That is how the few remaining independent mass media are working in Belarus – in the conditions of threats and blackmailing.

After 2010 thousands of activists had to emigrate from Belarus because of the crackdown by the authorities. Can they return to Belarus today? No. Can the most popular independent website charter97.org work in the country? No. Can Andrei Sannikov – the politician, who had won the last election from Lukashenka, return to motherland? No. So what changes could be meant?

- Could one expect that new prisoners of conscience could emerge in the nearest future?

- If no other conditions on democratization are to be laid for Lukashenka, new political prisoners are sure to appear. Before the release of the six political prisoners, the European Union already showed good will and lifted sanctions against a number of Belarusian officials, who had been involved in the repressions of the year 2010. Now the complete freezing of sanctions against the Belarusian regime is discussed. It reminds Munich. You are giving the Belarusian “hitler” progressively more, and he keeps demanding more and more.

Even today there are new political prisoners in Belarus – the young people who made graffiti “Belarus must be Belarusian”. It is a slogan which urges to resist the increasing Russification and remember one’s heritage.

That reminds me the year 2010, when in the run-up to the “elections” my friend, the founder of charter97.org Aleh Byabenin was murdered. Then Europeans closed their eyes to that then for the sake of a “dialogue” with Lukashenka. Don’t close your eyes now!