Category Archives: Alexander Lukashenko

‘Persecuted, jailed, destroyed’: Belarus seeks to stifle dissent

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Journalists and activists targeted in most wide-reaching crackdown since days of Soviet Union

Church bells rang in the city of Byarozawka as hundreds of mourners laid Vitold Ashurak to rest. They draped the white-red-white flag favoured by the Belarusian opposition over his body, as local police kept a wary eye on the funeral.

Sentenced to five years in prison after last year’s mass demonstrations against Alexander Lukashenko, the 50-year-old protest leader survived less than one. When Ashurak’s body was returned to his family, his head was entirely covered in bandages – only his mouth was visible, a family friend said.

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World aviation body to launch inquiry into Belarus ‘hijacking’

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International Civil Aviation Organization to hold ‘exceptional session’ as governments rush to deter copycat incidents

A speedy investigation into the “hijacking” by Belarus of Ryanair flight FR4978 is expected to be launched following an emergency meeting of the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization on Thursday, as governments rush to deter copycat incidents.

The 36-member council of the ICAO, based in Montreal, will hold an “exceptional session” to “share and review the latest information available, and discuss” the forced grounding of the aircraft in Minsk, a spokesperson said.

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Belarus president calls backlash against plane incident a ‘planned provocation’

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European countries begin to block flights from Minsk, with flight to Barcelona turned around at Polish border

Alexander Lukashenko has made his first public remarks defending his grounding of a Ryanair flight last week, accusing the west of launching a “hybrid modern war” against Minsk and calling the backlash over the incident a “planned provocation”.

Addressing a session of parliament, Lukashenko also appeared to suggest the plane could have been shot down because it was flying over a nuclear power plant when it was diverted by the Belarusian government, which appeared to have concocted a bomb threat and scrambled a Mig-29 to ensure the plane landed.

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Belarus regime uses video confessions as a tool to silence dissent

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Analysis: Raman Pratasevich and Sofia Sapega are just the latest to be forced into the widespread tactic

The videos are formulaic: Raman Pratasevich and his girlfriend, Sofia Sapega, each sit alone in front of a camera in a police station and deliver their “confessions” as though a loaded gun is pointed at their heads.

“I’m also the editor of the Telegram channel Black Book of Belarus that publishes personal information about employees of the interior ministry,” said Sapega, quickly repeating a memorised statement in a video released late on Tuesday that could lead to years in jail.

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Russia wary to support Belarus amid fallout from plane ‘hijack’

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Analysis: Minsk and Moscow watching carefully to see if EU makes good on threat of targeted economic sanctions

A new wave of sanctions and restrictive measures on Belarus’s aviation industry, severing its direct links with much of Europe, looks set to increase the country’s reliance on Russia, yet Moscow, its remaining ally, appears wary.

Kremlin officials have offered only muted support over an incident that has been described as “air piracy” and an “act of state terrorism” by Alexander Lukashenko, a leader whom Vladimir Putin treats as a junior partner, and often with open disdain.

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Raman Pratasevich: the Belarus journalist captured by a fighter jet

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Friends describe arrest of influential opposition journalist as an act of ‘personal revenge’ by the country’s president

In an interview last November the 26-year-old opposition journalist Raman Pratasevich said he was not planning to spend his life in exile. “I would go back to Belarus immediately if my safety was guaranteed,” he said. “My intention is to return.”

The extraordinary circumstances of Pratasevich’s involuntary homecoming have provoked international outrage, after his Ryanair flight was forced on Sunday to land in Belarus’s capital Minsk. It was on its way from Greece to Lithuania, where Pratasevich was living.

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Belarusian journalist was forced to record confession video, says father – video

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The father of the dissident journalist Roman Protasevich, who was detained in Belarus after his plane was forced to land there, said he believed his son was forced in a video posted online to admit guilt and appeared to have a broken nose. 'I think he was forced. It's not his words, it's not his intonation of speech,’, Dzmitry Protasevich said over Skype from Poland. 

Appearing on several channels of the Telegram messaging app, Roman Protasevich acknowledged playing a role in organising mass disturbances in Minsk last year. His father said the video seemed to be the result of coercion. ‘It's likely his nose is broken, because the shape of it has changed and there's a lot of powder on it’, he said

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Belarus ‘hijacking’ is test for international community

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Analysis: ‘Air piracy’ is just latest act of Alexander Lukashenko’s brutal campaign against his opponents

Belarus’s president, Alexander Lukashenko, has unleashed a brutal campaign against his opponents. More than 35,000 people have been arrested, thousands have been tortured or abused, and 400 political prisoners are currently behind bars. Earlier this week a 50-year-old opposition activist, Vitold Ashurok, died in a penal colony. The official cause of death was “heart attack”. His widow believes he was murdered.

It is against this dark and repressive backdrop that the extraordinary events of Sunday took place. According to state media, Lukashenko personally authorised the forced downing of a Ryanair plane as it flew over Belarusian airspace between Greece and Lithuania – a real-time hijacking. He even dispatched a MIG-29 fighter jet to ensure the pilot complied after being informed of a fake bomb threat.

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US joins global outcry at Belarus over seizure of blogger from Ryanair flight

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European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen says ‘hijacking must be sanctioned’ ahead of EU leaders’ meeting on Monday

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has joined European leaders in condemning Belarus for forcing a Ryanair flight carrying an opposition activist to land in the Belarusian capital Minsk.

European leaders – some of whom have already denounced the move to arrest blogger Roman Protasevich as an “act of state terror and kidnapping” – will meet on Monday to discuss what action could be taken against Belarus, for forcing the plane’s diversion during its flight from Athens to Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania.

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Belarus was given boot from Eurovision over ‘no dissent’ songs

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Decision taken despite the risk of politicising music competition, head of European Broadcasting Union says

Belarus had to be banned from this year’s Eurovision after it repeatedly submitted songs calling for “no dissent” despite the risk of the decision politicising the music competition, the head of the event’s organising body has said.

Noel Curran, director general of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the industry body that produces the annual international competition, said a stand needed to be taken with Belarus cracking down on anti-government protests, while also conceding the danger of stoking controversy over future country submissions.

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Belarus axed as host of ice hockey tournament over ‘security concerns’

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Sponsors of IIHF championships had begun to drop out after violent government crackdown on protests

The international ice hockey federation (IIHF) has said it will not hold this summer’s world championship in Belarus, amid concerns that it would be a propaganda coup for the country’s hockey-mad dictator, Alexander Lukashenko.

In a statement, the federation said it had made the decision “in the face of the growing safety and security concerns related to both the rising political unrest and Covid-19”. Minsk and the Latvian capital, Riga, were due to co-host the tournament in May and June.

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‘They march for freedom’: Belarus wins EU’s Sakharov prize – video

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The democratic opposition in Belarus, led by Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, has won this year’s Sakharov prize for freedom of thought, hosted by the EU.

Tikhanovskaya, who took on President Alexander Lukashenko in August after her husband and other prospective candidates were either jailed or forced to flee, urged the EU to act in solidarity with Belarus.

Thousands of Belarusians have defied beatings and arrests this year to demand the resignation of the country's authoritarian leader after he claimed victory in an election they say was rigged

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Belarus tells banks to seize money raised to help out protesters

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Money frozen in accounts of people who were hoping to use it for treatment or to pay fines

Authorities in Belarus have ordered banks to seize money raised in small donations and paid out as compensation to victims of a police crackdown on protesters.

The funds were transferred to people who were beaten or fined after taking part in ongoing demonstrations against the regime of Alexander Lukashenko.

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‘Crush the fascist vermin’: Belarus opposition summons wartime spirit

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Partisan tactics once used to fight the Nazis have been turned against Alexander Lukashenko’s brutally repressive regime

In Minsk, what people here call the Great Patriotic War is never far away. Monuments, street names and museums venerate the memory of the awful years from 1941 to 1945, when the Soviet Union was at war with Nazi Germany.

Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus since 1994, has used the years of partisan resistance against the Nazi occupation of the country, and the eventual victory by the Red Army, as the basis for a neo-Soviet, Belarusian identity.

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Belarus protesters use Telegram to keep up pressure on Lukashenko

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Secure messaging app pivotal to organisation of protests and spreading of news about repressions

In a small Minsk apartment one evening last week, a group of people gathered to discuss plans for a Halloween party with a twist. There would be costumes, drinks and games, but the main event was a ceremonial funeral. The plan: to bury Alexander Lukashenko’s dictatorship.

“Maybe we should bury a pumpkin with a moustache,” suggested one young woman.

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Belarus riot police burst into apartment looking for protesters – video

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Video shows riot police in Minsk bursting into an apartment in the city searching for protesters who had been seeking refuge after officers used stun grenades at a rally against the regime of Alexander Lukashenko, who continues to hold on to power despite two months of mass protests since he declared victory in the presidential election in August.

The footage, filmed on Sunday and later posted to social media, shows a policeman using a baton to beat a man who was draped with the pre-Soviet red-and-white flag, the symbol adopted by the opposition. Police detained at least three other men, while several others were sheltering on the upper floors of the building, a witness said. 

Officials in Belarus detained more than 500 people at nationwide anti-government protests on Sunday, including 160 in Minsk, the interior ministry said on Monday

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Workers and students in Belarus launch anti-Lukashenko strike

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Strike was called after ultimatum to president to step down by Sunday was ignored

Workers and students across Belarus have launched strikes in a further show of defiance at the regime of Alexander Lukashenko, who continues to hold on to power despite two months of mass protests since he declared victory in the presidential election in August.

The strike was called by Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the united opposition candidate who took on Lukashenko in August after her husband and other would-be candidates were either jailed or forced to flee. She left for Lithuania the night after the vote after receiving threats and called the strike after an ultimatum for Lukashenko to step down by Sunday night unsurprisingly fell on deaf ears.

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Belarus police fire stun grenades at peaceful protesters – video

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Belarusian police have used stun grenades against protesters as tens of thousands of people headed towards Independence Palace in the capital, Minsk, demanding that President Alexander Lukashenko resign. They were marching to give what they called a 'people’s ultimatum' to Lukashenko: step down, or face a nationwide strike that could cripple the economy. Protesters were met with a violent crackdown from riot police as explosions and white smoke filled residential areas. It is the 11th straight weekend of mass protests since a disputed election plunged the country into turmoil

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Belarus protests: nationwide strike looms after ‘people’s ultimatum’ rally

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Opposition leader calls for action on Monday as Lukashenko defies demand from 100,000 marchers in Minsk to step down

Belarusian riot police launched another violent crackdown in Minsk on Sunday evening, throwing stun grenades into crowds of peaceful protesters, chasing people through courtyards and making arrests as they attempted to curtail the 11th consecutive Sunday of protest in the country.

At least 100,000 people marched through the centre of the Belarusian capital earlier in the day to give what they called a “people’s ultimatum” to Alexander Lukashenko: step down, or face a nationwide strike on Monday that could cripple the economy.

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UK temporarily recalls ambassador to Belarus

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Move follows Belarusian government’s decision to expel 35 diplomats from neighbouring Poland and Lithuania

The UK has temporarily recalled its ambassador to Belarus, Jacqueline Perkins, in response to the Belarusian government’s decision to expel 35 diplomats from neighbouring Poland and Lithuania.

Minsk asked the two countries to scale back the number of diplomatic staff they had in Belarus on Friday amid ongoing political unrest following the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko.

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