Film about abductions in Belarus The Gang presented in Warsaw

The Warsaw-based Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights showed the documentary The Gang on August 4.

The film is about abductions of opponents of the Belarusian authorities. It was prepared by the Belarusian Documentation Centre, an NGO focusing on recording human rights violations in Belarus.

The presentation was opened by Volha Salamatsina (Olga Solomatina), an expert from the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, who told the audience about the political situation in Belarus.

“Candidate at the 2010 presidential elections Mikalai Statkevich and other political prisoners are still behind bars. Cases over abductions of famous politicians have not been investigated yet. Any Belarusian citizen who doesn't agree with the authorities can be arrested and face administrative or criminal charges. People are sentenced to death and executed every year,” Volha Salamatsina said.

The screening was followed by a discussion involving Draginja Nadaždin, the director of Amnesty International Poland; Raisa Mikhailovskaya, the head of the Belarusian Documentation Centre; Volha Zavadskaya, the mother of journalist Zmitser Zavadski who disappeared in 2000. The discussion was moderated by Aliaksei Dzikavitski, the chief editor of Belsat TV. Head of Viasna human rights centre Ales Bialiatski joined the discussion.

Raisa Mikhailovskaya said why and for whom the documentary The Gang was made.

“I am happy to see here many people who want to show their solidarity with Belarusians. I would like us to discuss both the current problems and the events that took place 16 years ago, in 1999, when the first political opponent of Lukashenka disappeared. I'd like to say why the film was shot. A new generation of young people has grown up. The film is intended mainly for them, the people who don't know about political disappearances and kidnapped people. It is important to understand that the events described in the film were a logical link in the chain of events that led to the current situation,” Raisa Mikhailovskaya said.

The human rights defender answered the question when an unbiased investigation of political abductions would be possible.

“Not now, in 2015. Almost all characters in our film say they have a hope. Of course, the abductions will be investigated only after new authorities come. It's obvious that top officials are involved in these crimes,” Raisa Mikhailovskaya stressed.

Volha Zavadskaya agreed with it. According to her, a possibility to openly discuss abductions of famous people will be the basis of a fair investigation.

“Of course, decades of Lukashenka's rule won't allow solving the issue immediately. But we will have an opportunity to speak about it openly. If people have this right, something will definitely change,” she said.

Volha Zavadskaya notes it is profitable for the authorities to hush up the problem of the abduction of her son and other well-known people and assure Belarusians that it is safe to live in the country.

“TV shows rosy pictures about the country's development and safety. Ordinary people do nothing ad understand that the media don't say the truth. Everyone has his or her illusions.”

Director of Amnesty International Poland Draginja Nadaždin criticised the recent decision by the EU on lifting sanctions from a number of Belarusian officials.

“We need to constantly remind the international community that Belarus still has political prisoners and that people are being arrested, though it's not the scale of the post-elections arrests in 2010. The sanctions were imposed to improve the human rights situation. It turns out that the sufficient ground for lifting sanctions is the absence of deteriorations. It is important for us to keep an eye on the state of human rights defenders, activists and journalists,” she said.