For what comments and reservations about detention in Belarus? | Belarus: view from Europe – DW special project | DV
Andrey Dubina was detained in the city of Vysokoe (Brest region) after discussing changes to the constitution at the Vysokovskoye DRSU-137 enterprise. According to the decision of the witnesses, he suggested that “the president can serve no more than two terms, and that the mustachioed and bald people be banned from participating in the elections.” Now the man is being charged under Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Belarus (on accusations of the president), which provides for up to four years in prison. For what comments and detentions have been detained in Belarus lately, and what are the authorities trying to achieve by the producers of detentions?
Wrote a letter to the editor – ended up in jail
Nikolai Vitikov, a 68-year-old resident of the village of Teryukha (Gomel district), sent a letter with proposals for constitutional reform to the Mayak regional newspaper and ended up in a pre-trial detention center. According to human rights center “Vesna”, the pensioner was detained on January 14, he is being treated as a suicide under part 1. Art. 130 of the Criminal Code of Belarus (inciting racial, national, religious or other social hatred or discord). Vitikov faces up to 5 years in prison.
During the protests in Belarus in autumn 2020
The content of the letter can only be judged from the article “Minute of Glory” at any cost “ in the newspaper “Mayak”: “Creativity” of the villager is replete with standard groundless accusations and accusations of representatives of the authorities and the state system. And how different is it to perceive the fact that a person is authorized to act by the state system “Lukashism”, by the export of power – by “jabats”, by the action of the health authorities by “the atrocities of the OMON geeks.”
The publication also says that the All-Belarusian People’s Assembly Vitikov “clothed in an unsightly comparison with the” coven “and” abscess “and so on.
Public “repentance” for the video about the district hospital
A resident of the city of Krugloye (Mogilev region) Sergei Leshkevich, the security forces learned to “repent” for filming a video about the terrible living conditions of the population, human rights activists report. In early January, a man ends up in the infectious diseases department, where it breezes through the windows, old wiring sticks out of the walls, the temperature in the bathroom does not rise + 14.
Leshkevich sent a video from the hospital to a friend in Germany, later it appeared on the YouTube channel “Real Belarus” (recognized as extremist in Belarus – ed.). On the repentant video, the man said that he “did not expect a set-up from a friend”, which supports doctors, and also has an impact on the infectious diseases department.
Detention for comments about the Belarusian military in Kazakhstan
On January 10, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus published a “repentant” video of two Minskers detained “for cynical comments about soulful people.” One of the men says that on the page of the channel “Maya Krai Belarus” (recognized as extremist in Belarus – Red.) left a “negative review” – called for the killing of the Belarusian military sent to Kazakhstan as part of the CSTO contingent.
The second Minsk resident says that on Instagram “Radio Liberty” (also recognized as extremist Belarusian fibers – Red.) wrote that the Belarusians, unlike the residents of Kazakhstan, are not numerous for armed protest. Both detainees say they repent and intend to remove the comments.
During the protests in Belarus in autumn 2020
Statements addressed to the security forces in Belarus have been detained earlier. Last fall, about 200 people went behind bars for comments about the appearance of the KGB during a shootout in the apartment of Minsk programmer Andrey Zeltser. In early January, the first comment was made on one of the detainees: a 45-year-old resident of Mogilev was found guilty of “a public statement by a representative of the authorities in connection with the performance of his official obligations.” The man was sentenced to 2 years in prison and 100 exceptional fines (more than 1000 euros – ed.).
What are the producers of detentions trying to achieve?
Methodologist and sociologist, coordinator of the programs of the Flying University Tatyana Vodolazhskaya is sure that arrests for posts and various statements are a well-thought-out strategy of power. “There are many detentions and punishments, but they are not total and, most importantly, they are not systemic.Ogreat importance”, – Vodolazhskaya economy.
Thus, in her opinion, the circumstances of great uncertainty, the blurring of situations of the boundaries of life of what is permitted and what is not permitted, the principle “everything that is not permitted is prohibited” begins to operate in all respects. “Each statement should now be weighed on the subject of its “illegality”, but the practice of applying the “law” is such that it is impossible to determine these boundaries, “the expert says. yourself.”
People don’t stop thinking and talking
Nevertheless, people do not stop thinking and talking, the sociologist believes, but their reflections, criticism and exchange of opinions go into private spaces. Therefore, it is especially important now that people who do not obey these rules speak in the public field: they continue to write and say what they think.
Also, the tactics of intimidation are different in that the picture of the world narrows down to everyday life. “In 2020, we observe that for individual representatives of the Belarusian space, their action and self-determination have become a country, ideas, of a widespread order. – All these actions are aimed, first of all, at increasing the level of atomization of the country’s population, complete uncertainty and very private picture of the world.
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