29 March 2024, Friday, 11:39
Support
the website
Sim Sim,
Charter 97!
Categories

Kamianets District Executive Committee "Dekulakised" Farmers

14
Kamianets District Executive Committee "Dekulakised" Farmers

The officials seized the land, which had been given by them last year.

It was love at first sight. In the summer of 2014, the Barsuks were passing through Viarkhovichy in Kamianets district. They saw an old derelict building in the center of the village and soon they bought it together with a small plot of land. And a year later, the local authorities allocated to farmers as much as 43 hectares of land! The Barsuks had hardly sowed it, when in April the land was taken back, Belsat reports.

"I was at the meeting of the district executive committee, my husband had not been invited. And within 15 minutes, they collectively decided to seize the land," – farmer Halina Barsuk says.

Previously, the land belonged to the enterprise Belavezhski, but it was used by another agricultural enterprise – Kaliankovichy. When the farmers took possession of the land and hired workers, the first problems began, Halina notes. The people started to feel psychologically pressure.

"Three four wheeling cars arrived. They stayed for an hour and left silently. Then the agronomist came, gave no way for the tractor to work – that is, he stood in front of the car, did not let us work. And then the people said – do we need such a job?" – the farmer says.

It was repeatedly hinted to Halina and her husband Mikalai that the man higher up was unhappy with that situation, and the land was to be returned. Although no one explained to the Barsuks who that man was.

"When we addressed to the collective farm, they simply sent us away. No one even wanted to talk about giving us another land in return, providing us with another, alternative plot, so that we could sow it," – farmer Mikalai Barsuk explains.

However, Vyacheslav Kovalchuk, a deputy chairman of the Kamianets District Executive Committee, denies this information: according to him, the Barsuks had been repeatedly offered alternative land, but they had refused, and a particular person is to blame for everything that happened, the one who allocated the land to the farmers.

"The chief of the land management service, who is not working now, misled everyone. Belavezhski did not cultivate the land, Kaliankovichy cultivated it. And Mikalai Yushkevich prepared documents reading that the land was not cultivated," – Viachaslau Kavalchuk, a deputy chairman of the Kamianets District Executive Committee, says.

The official confirmed to Belsat the information that Kaliankovichy, that is, the owners of the land, belong to a large player in the dairy market – Savushkin Pradukt, which was awarded the honorary state flag by the head of state personally a month ago.

The latest struggle of the farmers did not bring results – the Supreme Court of Belarus ordered to return the land before October 1. Nevertheless, the Barsuks are holding their end up and going to write to Lukashenka’s administration. However, taking into consideration the semi-transparent hints of the officials who are creeping out the farmers with the "man higher up," the family can hardly lot upon positive results.

Write your comment 14

Follow Charter97.org social media accounts