Belarusian dictator is in the top-7 of the worst in XXI century

The Russian media-group RossBusinessConsulting included Lukashenka in the list of the world’s most odious rulers.

Despite it is XXI century around, there still remain states, the rulers of which have unlimited powers and may be called dictators.

RBC selected the most prominent of the incumbent dictators.

The ranking is topped by the ruler of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe. Also in the list are Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Islam Karimov, Hugo Chavez, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow and Kim Jong-un.

The Belarusian dictator is forth on the list.

This is how the ranking’s authors characterize him:

The disregard to human rights and other liberal values did not allow the mustached father-of-the-nation to visit the Olympic Games in London: he is on the list of the people, not allowed to enter the European Union’s countries.

Lukashenka has come to power in 1994, having won the presidential elections with an anti-corruption, anti-nomenclatural program. After being elected he repeatedly reshaped the Constitution, according to which he can now stay in power for unlimited number of presidential terms. He has also amended the Criminal Code: Belarusians are forbidden to criticize the public order, the country, the ministers and all the more so – the ruler.

Notorious is his fight with the opposition: his political opponents either disappear under mysterious circumstances, or end up in prison. Protests are severely dispersed. The former chairman of the Supreme Council of Belarus Stanislau Shushkevich has been deprived of the right for a pension for participating in oppositional activities.

Lukashenka won the latest presidential elections in 2010 with the officials result of 79.65%, although according to the exit-polls’ data he only scored around 40%. The rest of the presidential candidates refused to accept the results. Discontented Belarusians went out to the streets in a large protest action, which was brutally dispersed by police and interior troops. Lukashenka himself earlier admitted the facts of falsifications: “More than 93.5% voted for Lukashenka. But they said, it is not a European number, so we made it less. This is what really happened. And if we start recounting the ballots, I will not know what to do with them at all”.

In 2011 the country’s citizens attempted to resist the authoritarian regime by the means of silent protests, planned via social media. They would gather in squares on an agreed day and time, without any slogans or banners and start clapping their hands not saying a word. But even such harmless actions were banned in Belarus: the protesters got arrested by people in mufti, whereas the groups in the social networks were deleted.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

US Department of State insists on release of political prisoners

The release of political prisoners remains high on the United State's agenda in relation to Belarus.

A delegation of the US Department of State led by Daniel Rosenblum, a coordinator of US Assistance to Europe and Eurasia, was on a visit to Minsk on January 27-29.

A number of meetings in the ministries of foreign affairs, healthcare, labour and social protection were held. On the last day of the visit, Mr Rosenblum met with seven leaders of Belarusian opposition organisations and movements: Iryna Vershtard (Belarusian Social Democratic Party Hramada), Syarhei Kalyakin (Belarusian Left Party Fair World), Anatol Lyabedzka (United Civil Party), Alyaksandr Milinkevich (For Freedom movement), Uladzimir Nyaklyaeu (Tell the Truth civil champaign), Vital Rymasheuski (organising committee to create Belarusian Christian Democracy party) and Alyaksei Yanukevich (Belarusian Popular Front).

UCP leader Anatol Lyabedzka spoke with BelaPAN news agency about the meeting.

“The meeting took 2.5 hours. It was for dessert, as Mr Rosenblum said,” he noted. According to the politician, the situation in Belarus and development prospects were discussed. The participants spoke about political prisoners, high-profile disappearances, free elections and a dialogue with the authorities.

Lyabedzka says the release of political prisoners as well as human rights observance by Minsk and holding free elections remains high on the US agenda in relation to Belarus. “Rymasheuski and I emphasised the importance of carrying out free elections. If we don't achieve it, names of political prisoners will just change after another election campaign,” the politician said. He also noted that the issue of the abducted people cannot be put on the shelve. “The representative of the Department of State wrote it down in his notebook,” Lyabedzka said.

The UCP leader prepared three questions for Mr Rosenblum: “What will new US Secretary of State John Kerry emphases in the message to Belarus?” “Are American analysts right when they say about a possible agreement between Obama and Putin on giving control over the post-Soviet countries to the Kremlin?” and “Did the US government or embassy have contacts with a group of American analysts before their recent visit to Lukashenka?”

“To the first question, Mr Rosenblum answered that the situation would depend on Kerry's team, but we should not expect radical moves. The US policy towards Belarus will be consistent. The second answer was: there is a range of issues, in which the US and Russia cooperate and have a concerted position, in particular, fight against terrorism and deterring Iran and North Korea. There are also debate topics, such as the post-Soviet area. So, no arrangements between Obama and Putin can be expected. The third answer was: the analysts came on their own initiative, they didn't have any tasks and instructions,” Lyabedzka said.

“The visit by Rosenblum shows the interest of the United States in Belarus. It is good that an official of such a level is interested in our situation. We have an opportunity to ask questions and present our position without intermediaries,” the UCP leader said.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Lukashenka: Teachers and doctors will be held strictly responsible

The ruler demanded that health care personnel “stopped whining”.

Lukashenka visited the Republic’s theoretical and practical center for neurology and neurosurgery today, Interfax reports.

“Enough whining that we have poor doctors. It is time for doctors to show results. Yes, we will increase the salaries, we will optimize ourselves, but we will demand a report”, - he claimed.

According to him, “everyone gets equal education, everyone is in the same conditions. That is teacher as well as doctors will be held strictly responsible”, - Lukashenka said.

The president claimed that by the year 2015 the Belarusian health care system must be optimized and everything must be put in order. “We need to settle everything down and optimize, so there is order in clinics. As it turns, we have created all these palaces, but if there is no doctor, no soul, what do we need these palaces for?”, - the ruler noted.

Lukashenka paid special attention to the necessity of development of the Belarusian health care school. “The school is the most important task for us. We have invested so much money, and that is why we should create these schools, but not to rest on our laurels”, - the ruler said. He also demanded to provide for the intergenerational continuity within the health care system, to prepare high qualification personnel and do not create obstacles in the work of young specialists. “Should we speak the medical language, if vessels get clogged, a clot forms, at it is the death”, - the ruler noted.

Lukashenka also spoke of the necessity for provide the country with the natural population increase already in 2015.

“We must reach the natural population increase by 2015 by all means, not including the external migration”, - he stated.

We would note that the salaries of Belarusian doctors and teachers in much lower than the ones of their colleagues in the neighboring countries.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Lukashenka keeps holding Sannikau’s wife and son as hostages

They are not going to let Iryna Khalip out of Belarus.

A Russian Novaya Gazeta’s reporter and the wife of a former presidential candidate Andrei Sannikau Iryna Khalip is not going to secretly escape Belarus, although the authorities are provoking her to do that.

The journalist, who was sentenced to freedom restriction after the events of 19 December 2010, has to stay in the city and be home after 10 p.m. However, Lukashenka is never tired of repeating the contrary: allegedly Iryna “simply does not want to” leave the country’s territory. Now his words were confirmed by the deputy Prosecutor General Aliaksei Stuk, Belsat reports.

“It is funny that everyone is trying to discuss the illiterate words of the deputy Prosecutor General. It seems to me that he does not have a legal education”, - Iryna Khalip notes. She reminded: the law on the procedures for entering and leaving the country provides that all the convicts, whether probationers or with a postponement, cannot leave the country’s territory. And Iryna Khalip was sentenced to two years of imprisonment with a two years postponement.

The editor of the Charter’97 web-site Natalia Radzina, another figurant of the 19 December case, thinks that the Prosecutor General’s office was forced to confirm Lukashenka’s words. “Actually, the prosecutor had to justify himself after Lukashenka’s statement which said that Iryan Khalip was allegedly free. It is obvious that Lukashenka lied. I can imagine what they thought [in the prosector’s office]: “What a fool! He lied and we have to justify ourselves…” That is why the prosecutor opted for vague wording: the court’s findings it is not stated that Iryna Khalip is forbidden to leave the country”, - Radzina emphasized. She believes that no one is going to let Iryna Khalip out. Even if she addresses the prosecutor’s office with a written appeal on the possibility of her travel abroad, the response will be negative.

“Lukashenka takes revenge at Andrei Sannikau, the strongest of his competitors, which was proved by the latest presidential elections. That is why he keeps his wife and son as hostages, since while they are in Belarus, Sannikau is restricted in his activities abroad”, - Radzina noted.

However, the journalist of Novaya Gazeta is going to write such an appeal. “At least to finish this comedy. I am so disgusted by all these people with their villainous lies that it will be a pleasure for me to put their faces right into their deceit one more time”, - she explained.

In Iryna Khalip’s opinion, Lukashenka’s statements about the freedom of her movement before the end of the punishment term are nothing but a provocation. The dictator, she thinks, hopes that Andrei Sannikau’s wife will try to leave, and handcuffs will be waiting for her after that.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Lying is normal for official

A deputy prosecutor general said the sentence to Iryna Khalip does not contain direct prohibition on going abroad.

“According to the court decision, there are no obstacles to travelling abroad. She should contact the corrections office of Minsk's Partyzanski district police department. She is under supervision of this agency. Khalip should file there an application. The office chief will examine it and make his decision,” deputy prosecutor general of Belarus Alyaksei Stuk told BelaPAN news agency.

Journalist Iryna Khalip, the wife of former presidential candidate Andrei Sannikov who received political asylum in the UK, was found guilty of participating in mass disorders after the elections on December 19, 2010. In May 2011, she was given a two-year suspended sentence. She cannot leave Minsk. She must visit the police department for checks every week and must be at home after 10 p.m. The probation period expires on July 17. Khalip's case will be heared in the court again to decide if she should be released, sent to a penal colony or if a probation period should be extended.

Lukashenka said several times (in an interview with British journalists on October 9, 2012 and at a press conference on January 15, 2013) that Khalip could travel abroad and promised to give her such an opportunity.

The dictator said on January 15: “If you want to take her anywhere, go to the prosecutor general, take her and go. It's in my power. You can take her away. But she will choose to remain here.” Lukashenka said: “Iryna is not a silly woman. She understands that she is a victim of the regime today, but no one will remember her tomorrow. That's why she hasn't left the country.”

The deputy prosecutor general says Khalip's punishment is called “other kinds of criminal responsibility”. “It is her status,” he said. According to Alyaksei Stuk, the prosecutor general's office doesn't have any information regarding changes in her status after the press conference on January 15.

The deputy prosecutor general also turned attention to the fact that Khalip was not released under her own recognizance, but the court decision imposes certain restrictions on her.

The website charter97.org asked Iryna Khalip to comment on Stuk's statement.

“Lying is normal for officials of all ranks: from Lukashenka to a district prosecutor. It's funny to hear these clumsy attempts to break the web of Lukashenka's lies. Besides the ban on leaving the country, the court decision has another remarkable clause: I cannot go out after 10 p.m. This measure forbids me to go out of the town.

The only time I was allowed to leave Minsk for the last 18 moths was when I visited a penal colony in Navapolatsk for a long-term meeting with my husband. I was warned in the corrections office that there were no guarantees that my trip would be permitted. I was given a route schedule, similar to those that drivers have. I had to check on the route. Visiting Vitebsk instead of the penal colony in Navapolatsk would have been considered a violation. I remember perfectly that when I was registered in the corrections office of the Partyzanski district police department, I asked an inspector to explain the details of this factual house arrest, but he said to me honestly that it was legal nonsense. Belarusian officials are trying to hide this nonsense today,” the journalist says.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Dictator awards law enforcement officers involved in executing Kavalyou and Kanavalau

The law enforcement officers involved in the arrest and execution of Kavalyou and Kanavalau have been awarded.

Among the people awarded with the Order of Motherland, the Order for Service to the Motherland Award and medals for Bravery and for Distinction in Protecting Public Order are heads and investigators of the Investigation Committee, departments chiefs and officers of the main investigative department and the main criminal investigation department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, heads and officers of special counter-terrorism detachment Almaz, representatives of the forensic department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, blogger d-zholik writes.

The most valuable award – the Order of the Motherland III Class – was given to first deputy chairman of the Investigation Committee General Andrei Shved, who was a deputy prosecutor general and carried out the investigation in the case of Uladzsiau Kavalyou and Dzmitry Kanavalau.

The awards were given to the high-ranking officers of the Investigation Committee, who took part in a special issue of “Chelovek i Zakon (Man and Law) programme on Channel One Russia devoted to the Minsk metro bombing. In particular, Lieutenant Colonel Vasily Hal, the first deputy head of the investigative department of the Investigation Committee, and Lieutenant Colonel Vadzim Hryts, the head of the department for investigation of crimes against the established order of military service of the main investigative department of the Investigation Committee, were awarded with the medal for Distinction in Protecting Public Order.

The first deputy chairman of the Supreme Court, Alyaksandr Fedartsou, who conducted the trial and pronounced a death sentence to Kanavalau and Kavalyou, was given the title of the honourary lawyer of the Republic of Belarus two months after the trial.

Dzmitry Kanavalau and Uladzislau Kavalyou were executed by shooting in March 2012.

The young men were sentenced to death for a terrorist attack. A homemade bomb exploded on April 11, 2011, at the Kastrychnitskaya metro station in Minsk. Eleven people died at the scene and four died later in hospitals. As many as 300 people were injured. Kavalyou was charged with complicity in the crime. Investigators say he knew that a terrorist attack was prepared, but didn't inform the police. Kavalyou pleaded not guilty at the trial.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau

Sheiman appointed head of Lukashenka's Property Management Directorate

Viktar Sheiman became a supply manager for the dictator.

Alyaksandr Lukashenka relieved Viktar Sheiman of his duties as president's special aide and appointed him head of the Property Management Directorate, the press service of the head of state reports.

Lukashenka relieved head of the Property Management Directorate Mikalai Korbut of his duties last Friday.

It should be reminded that Sheiman worked as Lukashenka's aide in the Belarusian Security Council until recently. Sheiman was appointed to a similar post as aide in the presidential administration amid the talks about a 25% cut in government staff.

Viktar Sheiman is suspected by the international community of being involved in kidnappings and killings of Belarusian opposition leaders. He still remains among the closest friends of the dictator.

Commentator Aliaksandr Krasnapeutsau