Stalinist practices. Article “treason to the state” in Belarus
Journalist of the independent TV company Belsat Kateryna Andreyeva (Bakhvalova), who has been in the Agreement since November 15 last year for broadcasting a rally in memory of Roman Bondarenko, a resident of Minsk killed by security forces, an imminent new disease – treason against the state (Article 356, part 1). The investigation is completed, the case will be transferred to the prosecutor’s office. For a stream with shares in memory of Andreeva, they were sentenced to two years in prison. Now there are five months left until the end of the term, but journalists present a very difficult article. For the last 16 months she has been in the Gomel colony, where she worked in a sewing shop.
On February 9, 2021, a trial took place in the case of correspondents Katerina Andreeva and Daria Chultsova. They were accused of “organizing mass events that grossly violate public order.” This was the first sentence to journalists for their professional activities, which was widely discussed in the media with the start of protests that began in Belarus due to public disagreement with the results of the presidential election, when lawyer Alexander Lukashenko was the winner.
At the moment there are 12 political prisoners in dungeons in Belarus under the especially serious article “Treason of the State”. The activities of strike committees and independent trade unions at factories, journalistic investigations for foreign media – all this in Belarus qualifies as treason to the state. Article 356 of the Criminal Code, which Belarus inherited from Soviet times, provides for imprisonment from 7 to 15 years. In the Soviet Union, a similar retail article, “Treason to the Motherland”, which is intended to be used as a firing squad. The Soviet, as now the Belarusian authorities, used it in the fight against dissidents. Lawyers note that the wording in the article is a large field for tracts and infections for citizens for mass reasons.
According to this article, there are two journalists in prisons – Denis Ivashin and Andrey Aleksandrov. Media manager Aleksandrov was the initial step “on suspicion of financing protest activities”, then he was charged with treason again. Denis Ivashin was a volunteer editor of the website of the international investigative community InformNapalm, having studied investigations into the influence of the “Russian world” on Belarus and Syria and about the transfer of former Ukrainian Berkut soldiers to the power structures of Belarus.
Husband of Katerina Andreeva Igor Ilyash so far, he only knows that the case was handled by the KGB in the Gomel region, and took place in complete secrecy:
– The court will almost certainly be closed, even relatives will not be allowed. Most likely, the deal will be done in May. In connection with some events, this disease arose and on the basis of what, I do not know, because the investigation was carried out in a secret format. When she was transferred from the colony to the pre-trial detention center on February 10, we were only told that this was done in connection with some “procedural actions.” We didn’t know what status she was in. Fortunately, Aliekseyt could have her lawyer, and a letter came from her that she was alive and well.
– Lawyer can’t even hand over information about her?
– There is a very strict non-disclosure agreement. Only after the completion of the investigation, the investigator decides this minimum information – her status and her article. Apparently, we don’t have any more information before the verdict. The fact that this happened to the KGB suggested that one should prepare for an undesirable scenario and that, most likely, a new article on the spread of crimes against crimes. Our worst fears are in fact confirmed.
– How long have you seen Katerina? How to endure the connection?
this coincided with the escalation in Ukraine, I think it has to do with journalistic activities
– Correspondence goes without problems, and we saw each other a week before she was transferred from the colony to the pre-trial detention center. We had a short date through glass and a tube. At that moment, nothing foreshadowed such a turn of events. All relatives are already present in the standby mode that it should be released on September 5, and literally counted weeks. But frankly, I had a bad feeling. Perhaps this was influenced by the international situation. I am qualified that something bad can happen.
– Do you associate this tightening of the screws with the war?
– When I found out about Katya’s transfer to a pre-trial detention center, my first thought was a threat with Ukraine. We have been very closely engaged in the topic of the war in Donbass and the case of Belarusians in this conflict. We wrote a book (in 2020 their joint book “Belarusian Donbass” was published, but already in 2021 Belarus in its recognition as extremist: in a book of reflections of the results of a long-term journalistic investigation, which is selective, among representatives, like the Belarusian special services and state-owned enterprises to combat conflicts) separatists. – Approx. RS). this probably coincided with the escalation in Ukraine, which is connected with journalistic activities on the Ukrainian topic, that some kind of anti-Ukrainian purge was launched on the eve of the war. But this version has disappeared, since we wrote together, and if the book had been prosecuted for the book, I could not have appeared in this criminal case. They don’t even call me as a witness.
– This did not affect the correspondent Daria Chultsova, who received the first term together with your wife, therefore, this action is specifically against Katerina?
– Dasha remains in the colony, there are no changes, so we can say that these are personal accounts with Katya. This, of course, is revenge for her professional activities, she is one of the brightest journalists in Belarus. She used a lot of resonant materials. I have no doubt that this is related to journalism. I’m a husband, I saw that she completely devoted this life, even the circle of her conflicts was limited only to journalists.
– In the history of modern Belarus, the article “treason against the state” was previously brought to the case of espionage in the military sphere, and not against journalists…
– If you read article 356 with comments to it, you can see that in practice treason can be interpreted very, very broadly. Almost all actions aimed at helping a foreign state or an organization that causes some harm to national security qualify as treason against the state. In fact, almost everything can be pulled under this wording. If you work for a foreign company, which, in the opinion of the authorities, is harmful to national security, then the publication can be interpreted as treason. This construction, when less than five months remain before release, and a new disease arises, strongly reminiscent of Stalin’s problems. In the “Gulag Archipelago” it is written that it was often repeated that a person was hung new and new in a circle. Varlam Shalamov also went through this. This, of course, is an absolutely cruel and cynical practice. You can imagine how a person feels who counts the weeks until the end of the term, and then he has the prospect of sitting down for 10 years. This is a monstrous blow.
– Now they began to plant people involved in the marches two years ago …
– This is just part of the logic of monitoring terror. After all, the authorities gave the security forces a complete carte blanche for any action. When it happens like this, that is, not only is it created and coordinated at the top, but also the appearance is spurred on. Again, if we make comparisons with Soviet times, we remember very well how quotas for repressed peaks occur, and internal checks require this increase. When such rules are established in the state, and the criterion of effectiveness is what you punish, then the security forces work that way. Now there is no activity, people are intimidated, they just have to look for those involved in the events of two years ago. It’s not just about marches. Human rights activists report that people are imprisoned and prosecuted for comments that were written before 2020. There can be no such horror if at some stage everyone was filmed,” says journalist Igor Ilyash.
Recently, the term was extended for another political prisoner in the Gomel colony, Polina Sharendo-Ponasyuk. On April 7, 2022, at an off-site meeting in correctional colony No. 4, a trial was held, which was supposed to be another year of observation under Article 411 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus – “for malicious failure to comply with the orders of the administration.” Polina became the first political prisoner to be tried under this article.
Polina is an activist from Brest, whom her colleagues compare to Joan of Arc for her courage and fearlessness. At the trial, she became famous for the phrase: “The chair on which you are sitting, Mr. Judge, and that is honestly you.” Both she and her spouse were repeatedly persecuted by the authorities. My husband Andrey Sharendo He says that this, additional period, can be extended.
– Why was this article used against Polina?
Instructions about Polina come from the very top. Refusals in calls, transfers – everything is supervised from Minsk
– Firstly, this is just a place from the side of the regime for its steadfast dependence, for the fact that it, even developed as a hostage, remains unbending. For example, she refuses to deliver an article, as required by his administration. (A criminal case was opened against him in January 2021 on charges of committing a crime against Alexander Lukashenko and on charges of committing a crime on charges of involving representatives of the organs of the gastrointestinal tract. – Approx. RS). The refusal to recognize oneself as an extremist, the refusal to represent the general police, the refusal to apply for a job (in the workshop where they make up the security forces) – there are only about 20 such individuals, and resulted in this criminal case. Article 411, which is irrelevant in the civilized world. The term can be extended indefinitely. If during a long year a person has the same violations of the order of detention, the period can be extended again. Those who have not been taken away (such as my wife, Natalya Hershe or Olga Klaskovskaya) are simply trying to isolate them from the rest of the political prisoners so that they do not influence others with their capture. At present, it is known that at least three women from the same colony are either threatened with the same article, or investigative actions are already underway.
– In total for the year that Polina was added, is it counted from what time?
– The prosecutor asked for a year, and we decided before the last that this year is taken into account in the calculation of the collection period, or it reduces the calculation from the amount of the court on April 7th. Thus, the total follow-up period is three years.
Did you expect such a turn of events?
– For me it was not a surprise. Instructions about Polina come from the very top. Refusals in calls, transfers – everything is supervised from Minsk. Such people always frighten the dictatorship. In situations where the throne is tottering for both Lukashenka and Putin, it is mortally dangerous for them to give indulgences to such people. Viktar Babaryka is under pressure, Maria Kolesnikova faced the same attitude. The situation with Katerina Andreeva is generally out of the ordinary. All this suggests that Lukashenka is simply terribly afraid of initiating their isolation. In addition, new forces appeared who learned in this company to earn new stars and new titles. Their names and surnames have been discovered, a complete accounting has been carried out, and they will be sent when the time comes, without examining. We already see how the workers of the nomenklatura themselves, the representatives of this vertical, are subject to repression. Before the collapse, the system devours itself, and we see this (for example, those cases that are used against plant managers).
– What did Polina say about the field office?
– She stated that, despite the fact that she is in full force several tens of thousands of kilometers from Gomel, she constantly hears the endless rumble of military equipment that rolls south towards the Ukrainian border. She said that the fate of the whole world is now being decided in Ukraine, and the Belarusians are doing their best to support Ukraine, that she knows all this. “European Belarus” – says the activist of the movement “European Belarus” Andrei Sharendo.