Belarus: repression in full swing at presidential time

Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

The presidential election of this Sunday, August 9 in Belarus is taking place in a particularly repressive context: since the start of the electoral campaign in May, the main candidates have been placed behind bars or had to flee the country and arrests have multiplied in the ranks of the opposition. 

Publicity

Appointment has been given in Minsk Park. Valentin Frolov is there, on an isolated bench. This opposition activist expects to be arrested again at any time, after having already spent two weeks in detention, last June. “  I was arrested by plainclothes police as I was collecting signatures for the election. They took off my shoelaces, my belt, and I spent 15 days in prison. Officially for participating in an illegal demonstration  , ”he says.

Human rights NGO Viasna has recorded more than 2,000 arrests since the start of the presidential campaign in Belarus. This Saturday again, Maria Kolesnikova, one of the pillars of the campaign of the Belarusian opposition candidate for the presidency, Svetlana Tikhanouskaya, was briefly arrested before being released, announced the team of the candidate cited by Reuters agency. The police allegedly attributed his arrest to an identity error.

A threatened president

This repression could increase further in the days following the election, fears Valiantsin Stefanovic, member of the NGO Viasna. “  A few weeks ago, Lukashenko said that in the event of destabilization of the country, the government could use the army. Everything is possible, and that's what worries me,  ”he confides at the microphone of our special correspondent , Daniel Vallot .

A fear shared by Valentin Frolov. For this activist, committed for years against the irremovable Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, he reacts by force, because he feels threatened. “  This is the first time that ordinary people have taken to the streets, instead of staying at home. Lukashenko is afraid and he thinks that by arresting the militants, people will not come out… But he is wrong.  "

While it had to be played in advance, this Sunday's election is much more uncertain than expected. The opposition has managed to unite against Alexander Lukashenko, who is running for a sixth term. In recent weeks, opposition rallies, when permitted, have gathered tens of thousands of people. Unheard of in Belarus since the end of the USSR. 

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• Belarus
• Alexander Lukashenko