New President Should Bring Order To Police First Thing

The office of Shunevich is characterized by tremendous impunity.

Imagine a picture. A new boy moves to a neighbourhood and starts terrorizing the local children, beats them, takes away their toys etc. The parents of these children, of course, are outraged, go to his mother and demand to punish the offender. But instead of pulling the bully’s ears and forcing him to apologize to the children, the mother apologizes for him, without even reprimanding the bully.

What do you think the bully will do next? That's right: go to the yard and continue beating other kids up.

The apologies of Natallia Kachanava for the actions of Ihar Shunevich’s subordinates look similar. Moreover, the Minister of Internal Affairs doesn’t give a damn about the whole thing: “I assess the actions of my subordinates in this regard as absolutely reasonable”.

What, then, is the head of the Lukashenka administration apologizing for? The cognitive dissonance.

It would be logical to send such a minister to resign - since the people from the presidential entourage have to apologize for him. Apparently, no, it seems that this time everything will be hushed down again.

Our police is generally characterized by a stunning impunity. For years police chiefs have been sitting in their chairs, no matter how many complaints the society would have to them. They initiate cases against the police only when there is no other option. Yes, and they are connected, as a rule, with money - bribes, fraud, etc.

When the police officers beat innocent citizens, it is rare that the guardians of the law tget punbished for this. Even if these cases are made publicly available. Our government understands what money is, and people for it are just raw material.

In the worst case, when they really cannot hide an awl in a sack, they charge the guilty with “excess of authority”. This has always surprised me. If bullying people is an “excess of authority,” then what kind of “authority” are these? Beating in the kidneys no more than three times? Standing with a boot on a person’s head for no longer than ten minutes? Putting a maximum of one bruise, and two will be considered exceeding?

Well, various things happen in life. Sometimes it is really necessary to act harshly - if, say, in front of you is a gangster with a knife or a gun. But still, I don’t understand: when this gangster is already neutralized and handcuffed, why beat him, lying down?

And even more so, why beat people who not only show no resistance, but it is even unclear whether they are guilty of something? As it was in Chapayeuka, for instance. Or recall the case of the Minsk doctor, to whom the special forces broke in “by mistake” and beat the poor man in the head.

Beating and the police have become almost synonymous for us. They beat oppositionists and disabled people, football fans and journalists. Beat right in front of people. They even beat parents in front of their children. They even beat those who ask for their help.

And it is useless to complain - the inspectors have one answer: “The police acted according to the law”. Moreover, people beaten by those who “acted according to the law” sometimes even appear to be the ones to blame for.

So why has Shunevich for years remained at his post for years, and nothing seems to worry him?

In a civilized country, any of these scandals would draw a series of resignations. At the very least. And if something like this happened again soon, it would put an end to the political career of the head of state.

For us, the lawlessness has been dragging on for years, the Cerberuses in a uniform continue to mock at the people - and everyone get away with this. The Cerberuses themselves, their minister, the head of the country - everyone. Isn’t it because in civilized countries, the power depends on the will of the people, and in ours - on beating the people? The more you beat people, the less they have the desire to ask uncomfortable questions after the “elegant” elections.

So Shunevich, by the standards of our “stability”, is a very valuable and timely employee.

In Belarus, the next election campaign will start soon. So here I give free advice to its participantss. The voters should be told not about economic reforms (few people understand what it is), not about a million jobs (even Belarusians do not believe in this tale) - no, promise to bring order to the police first thing after having become a president.

Make it so that people do not go out of there with their kidneys injured. Make it so they aren’t afraid to ask the police for help, stop this “it will only make it worse” thing. Make the police commanders fully responsible for everything that their rowdy subordinates do.

Dzmitry Rastaev, Solidarity