The West condemns the sentences in the “Tikhanovsky case”; the head of the CEC, Lydia Yermoshina, resigned. The main thing in Belarus in a week
- Alina Isachenko
- BBC Russian Service, London
The West condemns the sentencing in the “Tikhanovsky case”; Lydia Yermoshina, who had been in charge of the Central Executive Committee for a quarter of a century, unexpectedly resigned; Minsk introduces criminal liability for calls for sanctions; Alexander Lukashenko liquidated all “enemy” NGOs. The BBC Russian Service reports on the main events of the week in Belarus.
94 years old to the defendants in the “Tikhanovsky case”
A court in Gomel sentenced blogger and opposition leader Sergei Tikhanovsky to 18 years in prison. The Prosecutor General’s Office said it would appeal the decision as “too soft.”
Tikhanovsky’s verdict became one of the harshest ever since the beginning of the protests – earlier the ex-presidential candidate Viktor Babariko received 14 years in prison, the leader of street demonstrations Maria Kolesnikova – 11 years.
“God … I’m 71 years old! I won’t live, I won’t see my son!” – the mother of Sergei Tikhanovsky, Sofya Efremovna, reacted to the court decision. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya said that she would continue to fight for the liberation of the man I love and who has become a leader for millions of Belarusians.
As part of this case, the politician Nikolai Statkevich, who ran for president in 2010, received 14 years in prison, blogger Igor Losik – 15 years, member of the initiative group for the nomination of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya for the presidential election Artem Sakov – 16 years old, moderator of social networks of the “Country for Life” project Dmitry Popov – 16 years old and blogger Vladimir Tsyganovich – 15 years in prison.
Western leaders have harshly condemned these sentences. German Foreign Minister Anna Berbock called the deadlines “scandalous” and demanded the immediate release of all politically motivated ones. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that the court’s decision was “politically motivated.”
Polish President Andrzej Duda expressed solidarity with all political prisoners on his Twitter account in Belarusian.
“I am impressed by the courage of Belarusians and Belarusians, whose struggle resembles our struggle against the communist regime,” Duda said.
The Foreign Ministry and the Russian embassy are closely following the situation with the Russian Dmitry Popov, who was sentenced to 16 years in prison. The representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Maria Zakharova told Dozhd about this, adding that the staff of the embassy in Minsk “repeatedly” visited Popov in the pre-trial detention center, as well as “constant contact with his lawyer.”
Popov himself wrote a letter to his sister, in which he asked Vladimir Putin to revoke his citizenship due to the lack of support from Russia.
Immediately after the verdict was announced, a video message from Igor Losik’s wife Darya to Alexander Lukashenko appeared on social networks. Daria Losick invited him to talk.
“What is it like to go through two hunger strikes of my husband, to find out that he tried to commit suicide right in front of one of your so-called people,” said Daria Losik. “.
“I leave the choice of place and time for you. I am not going to run away and hide abroad. Prove to me that you are not a coward. I am waiting for an invitation,” concluded Daria Losik.
The day after the verdict was announced, Daria Losik announced that she had learned the court’s decision, Igor Losik was cheerful, but then became sad.
“When they were going to take us out of the room where the verdict was announced, Igor said that in the case file it was written that he had been leading the August protests while in the cell of SIZO-1 in Minsk. Who could have thought of this? ” – she said, adding that the case materials “were written in delirium.”
Lukashenka dismissed head of the Central Election Commission Lidia Yarmoshyna
This week Alyaksandr Lukashenka dismissed the head of the Central Election Commission, Lidia Yermoshina, who has served in this post for 25 years. Under the leadership of Yarmoshyna, two referendums were held in Belarus, two parliamentary and five presidential elections in which Lukashenka won. Europe and the United States stopped recognizing these elections as legitimate back in the 2000s.
Belarusian political analysts suggest that it is an unexpected attempt to regain confidence in the CEC before the vote on the amendments to the Constitution. It is scheduled for early next year.
“If its legitimacy is also low, the presidential elections will be clearly demonstrated,” political analyst Viktor Kabalevich told Dozhd.
“For 25 years, such a system has been worked out, which at any moment gives the necessary results, and the process of real voting of people and the figures given by the Central Election Commission are two parallel realities that do not intersect in any way,” says Kabalevich.
Former Minister of Education Igor Karpenko has been appointed head of the Central Election Commission. However, according to analyst Artyom Shraibman, the new reshuffle will change little.
“The ex-leader of the Communist Party Igor Karpenko, as the deputy head of the Minsk City Executive Committee, organized the necessary results in the elections in the capital, as the Minister of Education, he did an excellent job with packing thousands of electoral commissions with teachers, and after 2020, with cleansing the system of disloyal ones.” – wrote Shraibman in his Telegram channel.
Belarus will give up to 12 years in prison for calls for sanctions
Alexander Lukashenko approved criminal liability for calls for sanctions. Thus, the authorities want to counter the “threat to national security from destructive forces.”
So, for an appeal to foreign organizations will face up to 10 years in prison, to individuals – up to six years. The maximum responsibility for such calls is up to 12 years in prison.
As a reminder, in November the EU and the US introduced a new package of sanctions against Belarus. It is precisely to this extent that Svetlana Tikhanovskaya has an impact on the lace regime.
Lukashenko liquidated all “treacherous” NGOs
Alexander Lukashenko announced the elimination of all NGOs that were financed from abroad and tried, according to him, to carry out a coup in Belarus.
“Traitors cannot be forgiven. Those who tried to turn the country upside down and hand it over” there will not be forgiven.
“Howl and ask back” will never be restored.
Since the beginning of the mass protests in Belarus, dozens of organizations have been liquidated, including the operator of grants for public organizations – the Imena media platform, the Belarusian PEN Center, human rights groups Human Constanta and Youth Labor Rights.
Criminal case for July in Nazi uniform 10 years ago
In Rechitsa, a criminal case was opened on incitement to hatred for the Nazi uniform 10 years ago.
According to investigators, 54-year-old Vladimir Pryadkin posted himself on his Vkontakte page in the uniform of an officer, which was made during the filming of a feature film near Moscow.
In addition, Pryadkin allegedly made laudatory comments about Hitler in Odnoklassniki.
Under the article on inciting racial and ethnic hatred, he faces up to five years in prison.
On March 30 of this year, the famous artist Ales Pushkin was detained in Belarus under the same article – he is accused of rehabilitating Nazism because of his portrait of Yevhen Zhikhar, a fighter of the post-war anti-Soviet underground.
Another criminal case was opened against Pavel Latushko
The Prosecutor General’s Office opened another criminal case against the head of the People’s Anti-Crisis Administration (NAU) Pavel Latushko. This time, he is accused of abuse of office in the post of the Ministry of Culture – he held this position from 2009 to 2012.
According to the investigators, Latushko deliberately gave “beyond his powers to the specified employees to include them in the thematic plan for the production of films for 2012-2013”, which caused damage to the state.
Five criminal cases have already been initiated against Latushko, including a conspiracy to seize power. Earlier, Minsk announced the head of NAU on the international wanted list, but was refused.
Another employee of EPAM detained
EPAM business analyst Denis Nasuro was detained in Minsk. The video with his “confession” was published by the GUBOP telegram channel. There, Nasuro said he participated in the 2020 protests and was subscribed to banned Telegram channels.
The GUBOP published a photograph of a laptop with a red-and-white sticker pasted on it as an “evidence base”.
In September 2021, Andrei Zeltser, an IT specialist from EPAM, was shot dead by security forces in his apartment. During the shootout, a KGB officer was also killed, and the authorities blamed Zeltser for this.