Performer's Little Mishap

Is the capital moving to Pechy?

Mikalai Statkevich was handcuffed on the border. No, he was not arrested. He was not banned to leave the country. He was just handcuffed and was locked for an hour in a storeroom of the Losha border crossing point. And then he was released. They did not explain anything and did not make an apology. They even did not introduce themselves, only voiced numbers of their dogtags. I guess they even use them in conversations.

And teenagers from Mahilyou training school who were trying to escape were beaten by guards. Their beating was not captured on camera. One of teenagers is in hospital with a vertebral fracture. When the guy was hospitalized, one of guards warned him that is was only the beginning.

But this is not the beginning, it is a continuation. Just recall when short before the death common soldier Aliaksandr Korzhych told his mother about the cost of living in Pechy - 15 rubles a day. If you pay, you're alive. I doubt that the seized money was spent for beer by "grandpas"; the chain clearly goes to the top, to the command, and the scheme worked properly before the murder of Korzhych. And it happens not only in the army.

This is the latest news of Belarusian information tapes. Do you remember last New Year's night when a policeman shot at a Minsk dweller when he was at home? Do you remember a Stolin policeman who beat a nine year-old boy? Or the trial of Ivan Barbashyski in Slutsk, when the defendant was not only handcuffed but also chained like a dog? Or the death of Ihar Ptsichkin in the remand prison? Or tortures with electric shocker of defendants in the White Legion case?

When Mikalai Statkevich's wife published on Facebook the photo of her handcuffed husband; for some reason, I immediately recall 19 December 2010. The voice from the radioset in the police car said: "Order to detain Statkevich! Order to detain Statkevich!" That is the key word of the time: order. It was all done by order. They do not have their own thougts. They were waiting for an order. Tortures, bullying, sentences, murders are made by order. They have no blue sky thinking; there is no good deed that goes unpunished.

Orders were issued right from the very top. Someone Lukashenka then decided everything: a verdict to deliver, to torture, to imprison, and so on. All the others played their insignificant roles.

Is it worth wondering that during the investigation on the Decabrists' case the Belarusian ruble dropped three times and people stand in queues to buy foreign currency? The ruble had no chances, if the person appointed himself the ruler was constantly thinking about punitive methods and other people were either involved in fulfillment of his orders or delivering orders from the top.

However, it concerned only political prisoners, opposition, enemies of Lukashenka. Others were subject to mockery without any order. But with an eye for the leadership. However, it was done quietly not to let the leadership down. But there was no fear of publicity. And now everything has changed.

The main thing that happened seven years after December 19 was abolition of orders. Now every prison guard, soldier of a camp garrison, policeman, watchperson, employee of an Executive Committee are allowed everything. He has to wait for an order no more, he is free to act in perfect harmony with his own instincts. And if instincts say "Beat them! Rob! Kill!"; it means a permission is not needed. And there is no need to worry about publicity. You can do whatever you want. Dance, ladies and gentlemen! The capital is moving to Pechy. Ragtag and bobtail triumph.

Mikalai Statkevich was detained and handcuffed because those guys with dogtags said so: "It's a fun!" They allowed Maryna Adamovich to photograph Mikalai wearing handcuffs and upload the photo on the Internet. They did not fear publicity. They just had fun. And it is nice to know that everything is allowed. No one screams, forbids, or condemns.

But only those who allow ragtag and bobtail to get away with those things, they do not realize that this crazy outrageous situation will swallow them as well. In a moment one is handcuffed among celebrating menials. The bifurcation point is just a moment. One cannot be fixed there like a fly in amber. One can be fixed only in a coffin. Although a coffin is not a shelter as well. Remember how inner circle mocked over dead Gaddafi.

Iryna Khalip specially for Charter97.org