"The Rumas Case": The System of Power Has Gone Mad

At the same time, the new case of bankers points to another weak point of the regime.

Last week, information surfaced about the emergence of the so-called "bankers' case," one of the defendants of which either has already become or may become the recent Prime Minister Siarhei Rumas.

The official himself, who once headed Belagroprombank and the Development Bank, is abroad and did not comment on the information about the corruption case against his colleagues.

Former chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus and the single opposition candidate in the 2001 presidential election, Uladzimir Hancharyk, in a comment to udf.by, noted that he would not advise the former head of government to return to Minsk.

"We see that no one will give any guarantees in our country, in our "rule of law" state. There is not enough information to judge whether Rumas is guilty of something or not, but if he is guilty of something in the eyes of the country's leadership and if there is a desire to throw the former prime minister behind bars, then this will be done," Hancharyk said.

As proof, he cited the example of Viktar Babaryka.

"If he had not announced his presidential ambitions, the Belgazprombank case would hardly have arisen. The situation with Babaryka and Rumas underlines the state in which we live. Anyone can be arrested here, and anyone can be presented with trumped-up charges - be it an ordinary citizen or a high-ranking official. The impression is that the system of power has gone mad," Hancharyk said.

In his opinion, one photograph could well become a turning point in the fate of Rumas.

"In our state, any little thing can play against an official. Moreover, Lukashenka does not forgive those who were close to him and held high positions. He believes that these people have no right to their own opinion, and he treats any little thing, any step to the right or left, as a betrayal," Hancharyk said.

At the same time, the new public interest in the person of Rumas demonstrates that there are "enough people in Belarus who could lead the state."