The last dictator of Europe

The regime of Alexander Lukashenko.

Belarus: 20 years under dictatorship and a revolution behind the rest of Europe

Tucked away behind the vast, charmless apartment blocks and broad thoroughfares so beloved of Soviet town planners, the Minsk History Museum boasts Belarus’s best exhibition of the summer. Back in the BSSR (the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, as it was then known) is a showcase of Soviet memorabilia and propaganda that takes visitors back a generation to a time when this was one of 15 Soviet Socialist Republics.

Or is it? Some would argue you don’t have to enter the exhibition to be Back in the BSSR. Streets in the capital are still named after Marx and Engels. A statue of Lenin dominates a city centre square. There’s even a bust of Felix Dzerzhinsky, the original Soviet secret policeman and the first statue toppled in Moscow when the Soviet Union finally collapsed in 1991. A metro ride costs 20p. People smoke indoors. Almost no one has tattoos. This feels like a place that is at least one revolution behind the rest of us, maybe more.

And then there is the leader. This summer, Europe’s longest-serving ruler - the only post-Soviet president that Belarus has known - marks 20 years in office. Since Alexander Lukashenko came to power in 1994, parliament has been emasculated, political opponents driven into exile or disappeared, and the media have been silenced. This is a country where the KGB is still called the KGB. It is the last European country to use the death penalty – a bullet to the back of the prisoner’s head. Last month, Lukashenko announced he intended to bring back “serfdom” to “teach the peasants to work more efficiently”.

More at The Guardian

Abuse of prison regulations against imprisoned human rights defender in Belarus

On 16 May 2013, the wife of Belarus human rights defender Mr Ales Bialiatski went to the Bobruysk colony No.2, where her husband has been held since February 2012, in order to bring him a food parcel. However, the food parcel was refused by prison officials, who informed her that in March 2013 Ales Bialiatski's right to receive food from visitors had been suspended for six months.

Ales Bialiatski is the Chairman of Human Rights Centre Viasna. On 24 November 2011, he was found guilty of tax evasion on a large scale by the Pervomayski District Court of Minsk following an unfair trial, and was condemned to four and a half years imprisonment as well as the confiscation of all property including belongings registered in the name of other persons. The court also fined the human rights defender 721 million Belarusian Rubles (approx 82,700 USD) for alleged unpaid taxes and 36 million Belarusian Rubles (approx 4,100 USD) for state costs.

This incident is not the fist time that disciplinary measures have been used against Ales Bialiatski. Between March and June 2012, he received three reprimands, one of which resulted in the loss of visitation rights. Following the three reprimands, in June 2012 the human rights defender was named a 'malicious disturber', which resulted in his exclusion from the 2012 amnesty for economic crimes.

More on Front Line and on Viasna

Activists and Journalists beaten and detained in Belarus

Several people were detained and beaten in the Belarusian capital Minsk on Tuesday as they attempted to hold a rally calling for a nationwide boycott of this weekend's parliamentary elections in the former Soviet republic.

"Opposition activists were going to hold another picket near the Frunzensky store in Minsk calling on people not to vote in the elections to the Chamber of Representatives of the National Assembly," the opposition Charter 97 group said on its website. (RIA Novosti)

Agents in plainclothes repeatedly hit several journalists covering an opposition protest organized by activists calling for a boycott of Sunday's parliamentary vote, according to news reports. Sergei Grits, a photographer for The Associated Press, said his face was covered with blood after one of the assailants punched him and broke his glasses, according to AP.

All of the journalists were shoved into a minivan with no license plates and driven to a police station where their equipment and documents were confiscated with no explanation, news reports said. Police held the journalists without charge for two hours and then released them, the AP reported. The officials also deleted the images and video recordings from the journalists' cameras before returning the equipment, Reuters reported.

Committee to Protect Journalists

'Better To Be A Dictator Than Gay'

Belarussia's Alexander Lukashenko on Sunday criticised EU politicians who have threatened him with further sanctions and in an apparent reposte to the German Foreign Minister's branding him "Europe's last dictator", said: "Better to be a dictator than gay."

Guido Westerwelle is Germany's first openly gay minister.
European Union leaders at a summit in Brussels on Friday called for new measures to pressure the Belarus President, in power since 1994, over alleged human rights abuses.
Lukashenko said Belarus would give a strong reaction to any sanctions, according to local news agency Belta. "This is absolute hysteria," Belta reported him as saying. "And as you can see, at the forefront there are two types of politicians ... one lives in Warsaw, another in Berlin. Whoever was shouting about dictatorship there ... when I heard that, I thought: it's better to be a dictator than gay."

Huffington Post

Belarus orders EU ambassador to leave in wake of sanctions

Belarus has asked the ambassadors of the European Union and Poland to leave the country after the EU extended sanctions against officials loyal to authoritarian president Alexander Lukashenko.

Minsk also recalled its envoys from Brussels and Warsaw in response to the EU’s decision to freeze assets held in member states by 21 Belarusian judges and senior police officers and to deny them visas for travel to the bloc. More than 200 officials in Mr Lukashenko’s regime are now barred from entering the EU as it raises pressure on Belarus’s leader to free political prisoners and end a crackdown on opposition parties and independent media.

“It has been suggested that the head of the EU delegation to Belarus and the ambassador of Poland to Belarus return to their capitals for consultations to communicate to their leadership the firm position of the Belarusian side that pressure and sanctions are unacceptable,” foreign ministry spokesman Andrei Savinykh said. Minsk would also ban EU officials responsible for imposing the sanctions from entering Belarus, he added, while stressing Belarus would never bow to EU pressure.

“We have several times at all levels explained the pointlessness of this policy in regard to Belarus . . . If pressure continues to be exerted on Belarus, more measures will be taken to defend our interests,” Mr Savinykh said. Sweden’s foreign minister Carl Bildt responded on Twitter: “Lukashenko throws out ambassadors of EU and Poland. Dictator starts burning the last bridges. Normally does not end well.”

The Irish Times

International websites banned in Belarus

Residents of Belarus are now forbidden from accessing foreign websites. Any citizen who breaks the new law is liable to face a fine of up to US$125.

All entrepreneurs and companies in Belarus will now have to register as part of the compliance for the new law. If the company or private individual offers commercial services, only local email, hosting and payment providers can be used. This vaguely authoritarian decree is excessively harsher than the US’ proposed SOPA law, which aims to clamp down on copyright infringement.

An official document, issued by the US Library of Congress, explains that even internet cafes in Belarus will have to comply, or face a misdemeanour charge:

Additionally, the Law states that the owners and administrators of Internet cafés or other places that offer access to the Internet might be found guilty of violating this Law and fined and their businesses might be closed if users of Internet services provided by these places are found visiting websites located outside of Belarus and if such behaviour of the clients was not properly identified, recorded, and reported to the authorities.

Memeburn

OSCE asks Lukashenko Not to Tighten Law on Public Organizations

Audronius Ažubalis, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania, presiding in the OSCE, expressed concern about the tightening conditions of social and political activities in Belarus at the legislative level. October 24, Lithuanian Foreign Minister urged the Belarusian president not to sign the amendments to the law on public organizations and state security agencies.

"I urge Lukashenko not to sign the amendments and to refrain from further violations of commitments within the OSCE by introducing new restrictions on civil society in Belarus. I am deeply concerned at these new restrictions, and once again call on the Belarusian president to stop political persecution," said Audronius Ažubalis.

Telegraf.by

Belarus cracks down on growing protests

Belarus security services detained at least 450 protesters in the wake of rallies across the country against the strong-armed measures of President Alexander Lukashenko.

Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko is making good on his promise to "strike hard" against any Belarussian citizens heeding social-network appeals to protest against growing economic hardships. By Thursday, more than 450 people who took part in flash-mob rallies in more than 30 towns around Belarus had been rounded up by the KGB security services, and accused of using Twitter, Facebook, and the Russian-language Vkontakte to facilitate illegal gatherings, according to the independent Belapan news agency. According to the agency, many face up to 15 days in prison for "hooliganism."

More on CSMonitor.com

“Don't pay attention to any kind of democracy”

Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian president, says two suspects have confessed to being involved in Tuesday's Minsk metro bombing that killed 12 amid fears of a new wave of repression against the country's opposition.

Lukashenko said on state television, that the worst attack in the country's history, which also wounded 200, had been "solved" but admitted its motive remained unclear. "The crime was solved at 5:00 am. KGB officers and police took one day to complete a superb operation and detain the perpetrators without noise and chatter," he said. The security service is still known by its Soviet-era acronym in Belarus.

"The main thing is that we know who carried out the act of terror and how. We don't know why yet. But we will know that too. We should not relax, there should be cleansing along all fronts," said Lukashenko

Lukashenko told the security service: "Detain and question. Don't pay attention to any kind of democracy and the wails and groans of the pathetic Westerners."

From Al Jazeera English

Alexander Lukashenko, European Dictator

Press conference given by Alexander Lukashenko, president of Belarus, following the scandalous presidential elections of 2010. December 20, 2010. (part 2) RT report about this here.

Massive Government Crackdown in Belarus

The Belarusian authorities arbitrarily detained and abused hundreds of people following a rally protesting President Aliaksandr Lukashenka's re-election on December 19, 2010, and have since carried out a campaign to stifle civil society and free expression across the country, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today.

The 31-page report, "Shattering Hopes: Post-Election Crackdown in Belarus," documents the human rights violations that have occurred since the election - including persecution of opposition candidates and activists, abuse of detainees, trials behind closed doors, and raids on human rights organizations. The report also details allegations of extremely poor conditions in detention, denial of access to defence counsel, and government pressure on lawyers representing those facing criminal charges related to the post-election protest.

"For well over a decade the Belarusian government has steadily tightened its grip on civil society," said Anna Sevortian, Russia director at Human Rights Watch. "Now, the new wave of persecution is a crisis that requires a strong UN response."

Human Rights Watch - Office for a democratic Belarus - Free Belarus!

The Guardian: Belarus protests: more than 600 charged and opposition leaders in jail

Lukashenko Preparing "Tough Measures" in Response to Sanctions

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko instructed to prepare a response "up to the toughest measures" to the Western countries' possible sanctions against the official Minsk. As the head of state informed at the meeting on some domestic issues on January 20, the Government of Belarus will be responsible for the development of concrete steps.

"If someone tries to impose economic or other sanctions on the country, we must respond immediately, up to the toughest measures. We won't let anybody make us bow. This should affect absolutely everyone, trying to oppress and block the country - whether it's a separate group of countries or even the EU as a whole," said President of Belarus, BelTA informs.

Alexander Lukashenko instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to develop and provide "concrete proposals to combat anti-Belarusian campaign abroad." "We need to develop a set of measures to prevent our country from being a pawn in someone else's game, as well as from destruction of our economy, security and sovereignty," added the President.

Telegraf.by