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Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa and the Belarusian opposition tried in Minsk for high treason
Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, in exile, in Berlin, Tuesday, April 26, 2022. AP - Bernd von Jutrczenka
Text by: Anastasia Becchio
6 mins
The trial of several members of the Belarusian opposition in exile, including the former 2020 presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa, opened in their absence on Tuesday January 17 in Minsk, in full acceleration of the repressive machine of the authoritarian regime. 'Alexander Lukashenko.
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Four other people are on trial alongside
Svetlana Tsikhanovskaya
from Tuesday.
Among them, one of the regime's highest officials to have joined the ranks of the opposition, Pavel Latouchko, former Minister of Culture and Ambassador to Paris, and Olga Kovalkova, also a member of the Presidium of the Coordinating Council of the opposition in Belarus, forced into exile in September 2020, after serving ten days in prison.
The young woman, joined in Warsaw, where she resides, believes that this trial in absentia is "
a way for the power to once again show its strength
" and to seek to "
humiliate
" the opposition while punishing it.
"
This is revenge for our positions"
, analyzes the 39-year-old co-president of the Christian Democratic party, who has more than ten years of political experience behind her.
"
It's not a trial, it's a circus, a retaliatory measure against undesirables, it's Lukashenko's revenge for the year 2020. He still cannot recover from the trauma that has been for the demonstrations of millions of people in Belarusian cities
,
"
said Franak Viacorka, special adviser to Svetlana Tsikhanovskaïa, the chief opponent, whose husband,
Sergei Tikhanovski,
a video blogger who had galvanized the crowds, was sentenced in December 2021 to 18 years in prison for “organizing mass disturbances”, “inciting hatred in society”, “disturbing public order” and “obstructing to the Electoral Commission.
On the eve of the trial in absentia of his wife, the imprisoned opponent was charged with "insubordination" with regard to the prison administration, a charge punishable by two years of additional deprivation of liberty.
Revocation of citizenship
Political scientist Valery Karabalevitch sees in these court cases targeting the opposition “
the transformation of the autocratic regime of Alexander Lukashenko into a totalitarian regime
”.
This is evidenced, according to him, by recently adopted laws which will make it possible, by the summer, to revoke the Belarusian citizenship of persons who reside abroad and have been convicted of extremist activities or of having seriously harmed the interests of the 'State.
This process would make it possible to "
transform the electoral map of the country
"
,
analyzes the political scientist: "
depriving people of Belarusian citizenship is a way to get rid of a large number of people who are opposed to the current power and to keep only those citizens who are supporters of Lukashenko.
This would make it possible to organize elections without resorting to
fraud
.
Two and a half years after the massive demonstrations against the disputed re-election of Alexander Lukashenko, in power since 1994, the repression continues and gives rise to a series of trials.
Since last week,
several collaborators of the Tut.by website have been on trial
, including its editor-in-chief Marina Zolotova and Lyudmila Tchekina, the general director of the country's main independent media, which extensively covered the demonstrations in the summer of 2020. Other resounding trial, although little information leaks out, independent observers having been driven out of the courtroom in the first days: the co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize,
Ales Bialiatski
, founder of the human rights NGO Viasna, Valiantsin Stefanovic, now co-president of Fidh and lawyer Uladzimir Labkovich, all detained since July 2021, are on trial in Minsk.
They risk up to twelve years in prison.
This Monday, January 16, the closed trial of a figure of the Polish minority, the Belarusian journalist Andrzej Poczobut also began.
He faces twelve years in prison.
Serial trial
“
The repressions continue and even increase according to certain indicators
”
,
affirms the lawyer of Viasna in exile Pavel Sapielko.
The NGO counts 1,440 political prisoners. "
This regime can only exist in this context of repression, of total intimidation
"
,
underlines the expert.
“
Early last year, in February 2022, when it looked like the crackdowns were at their height, everyone seemed terrified.
But there was this illegal constitutional referendum and Russia's attack on Ukraine, and immediately, in this fearful society, there were still mass protests against the war and against the falsification of the results of the referendum .
»
The opposition still has many supporters within the country itself, according to Valéry Karabalevitch: “
the authorities fear a new explosion of protests, which is why the repressive machine must continue to turn.
Power understands that a majority of the population is against it.
It is no coincidence that Lukashenko proposed not to organize any more presidential elections but to have the head of state elected by the People's Assembly of Belarus.
He understands that he is not in a position to win a democratic election
, ”says the political scientist.
In this context, a democratic opposition, even in exile, harms the Belarusian leader, "
Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa gene Alexandre Lukashenko
"
,
believes Franak Viacorka.
“
He thought he would manage to throw all the organizers of the demonstrations in prison and that we would continue to do business and discuss with him.
But two and a half years have passed and Lukashenko is treated as a criminal, a tyrant or a terrorist, while Tikhanovskaïa talks with the leaders of the world powers
.
The leader of the opposition in exile must speak this Tuesday at the Economic Forum in Davos.
"
It makes Lukashenko jealous, he failed to restore his legitimacy, he couldn't regain control of the country, he became an outcast, and today he is helping Putin in the war because Putin is the the only one who supports him
, ”explains Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa’s adviser.
Since the invasion of Ukraine,
several thousand Russian soldiers have been training on Belarusian territory
, which served as a rear base for Moscow's troops for its offensive launched on February 24, 2022. For this involvement, Minsk made the subject to additional Western sanctions.
On the domestic scene, the war led by Russia in Ukraine helps the regime to create this image of a “
besieged fortress
”
,
according to Valéry Karabalevitch, who deciphers the logic of the Belarusian authorities: “
the country is surrounded by enemies, there are also enemies inside, that's why in order to survive you have to destroy the fifth column.
When the country is at war, we cannot tolerate the existence of a fifth column inside the country, it is unacceptable
”
.
War or not
,
the Belarusian authorities have no shortage of excuses to silence dissenting voices: “
Even if there weren't this conflict in Ukraine, there would still be repressions.
They would simply mainly affect other spheres of public life,
”
says
Pavel Sapielko.
Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, courts have been convicting Belarusians for anti-war statements, for attempts to join the Ukrainian armed forces, for information about Russian troop movements.
Militants also sabotaged railway facilities to disrupt Kremlin logistics.
Several of them were tried and sentenced to heavy sentences of 21 to 23 years in prison.
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Belarus
Alexander Lukashenko
Justice
Human rights