"Parasites": We Will Fight And Our People Will Support Us

Dissatisfaction with Lukashenka’s unconstitutional decree is growing like a snowball.

"I won’t be silent. I will talk about it. And I think our people will support me. Because I am sure that I am not the one-of-a-kind in Belarus," – an unemployed woman says in the Belsat video story.

A mother bringing up two children alone. A daughter caring about her disabled mother. A citizen with a work experience since 1989.

A taxpayer who regularly pays interest on the lease of the apartment to the State. Minsker Zhanna Haurylovich found herself among those four thousand Belarusians, who had been included in the list of "social parasites" and who had received the "chain letters" from the tax office.

"We don’t ask anything from the State. We pay rental tax. We do everything legally. We may well exist, without government subsidies to guardianship - we do not ask for them. But we do ask – leave us alone, " – Haurylovich says.

They advised that I should send my mother to a care home and start working.

According to officials, the woman’s son should also pay the tax on "social parasitism" for 2015, because he was a full-time student at that time. Zhanna herself allegedly owes the State BYN 162 – for not working and caring for her sick mother instead.

"They have explained me that if I can’t work and take care of my mother, being a care-taker, then I should send my mother to a care home and start working," – the woman said.

The Minsker doesn’t understand, how to survive in the so-called welfare state. Zhanna is ready to seek asylum abroad.

The discontent, caused by Lukashenka's unconstitutional decree, is growing.

"The people are poor, there is no work, wages are miserable, and they still want the tax on parasitism? They've crossed the line! Therefore, the authorities, go to blazes! The Vitsebsk Region Tax Inspection, go to blazes!"

A young man, who has not lived in Belarus for the last years, but has received a letter from a tax inspection as well, posted a video with such "greetings to the government" on the Internet. In this very video a man, who has received a "chain letter", together with a witness come to the Homel Region Tax Inspection to write an application, that he has a dependent child. In response to taking a video, which is absolutely in accordance with the law, the young men faced with total ignorance of the law by those who, in fact, are to guard it.

How one can confront the extortion legally?

The center Legal Assistance to Population offers support and urges to appeal to one’s rights.

"There is the law and the Constitution, which allow a person to appeal against any action of an official. We found a pattern there – through the Constitution and the law on citizens' appeals. Our goal is, starting with appealing against the district tax inspection’s decisions, to reach the minister of taxes. If this does not help, our further algorithm is court," – human rights activist Aleh Vouchak says.

The Initiative’s lawyers are ready to go through all the authorities, defending the right of Belarusians not to be slaves.