‘It Sits In Lukashenka Like A Thorn’

The dictator is scared.

The Belarusian authorities have recently held more trials in absentia than usual. What could this trend mean?

Political observer for Radio Svaboda Valer Karbalevich commented on the situation.

According to the analyst, the very fact that the security forces are fighting the diaspora and opposition abroad indicates that the activities of these structures worry the authorities.

“Lukashenka himself, in almost any public speech, mentions the so-called “fugitives”. Even if a completely different topic is being discussed. It sits in him like a thorn and doesn’t allow him to calm down, so he constantly thinks about them. He regularly says that they exist, that they are his political opponents.”

At the same time, according to the expert, by mentioning those who left, Aliaksandr Lukashenka thereby increases their subjectivity in the eyes of the Belarusian public, both within Belarus and abroad.

“After all, if they didn’t have any significance, then why talk about them. And if they talk about them, it means that they have some weight,” says Karbalevich.