{"id":63646,"date":"2024-01-29T10:11:51","date_gmt":"2024-01-29T07:11:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.pozirk.online\/?post_type=longreads&p=63646"},"modified":"2026-04-15T13:35:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T13:35:32","slug":"arrests-for-food-aid-as-harsh-reprisals-continue","status":"publish","type":"longreads","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/63646\/","title":{"rendered":"Arrests for food aid as harsh reprisals continue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In a new wave of reprisals, law enforcers conducted massive raids on donors and recipients of food aid on January 23. At least 165 former political prisoners and their relatives were targeted, as well as those who donated solidarity food packages. In a separate development, the Investigative Committee brought charges against 20 scholars and journalists based abroad and allegedly linked to opposition leader \u015aviat\u0142ana Cichano\u016dskaja.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n \"\"\n
\n
\n\n Prisoner vehicle parked in front of the KGB office\n <\/div>\n \n
\n (tut.by)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Analysts caught in crossfire<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Belarusian investigators launched \u201cspecial proceedings\u201d against \u201c20 so-called analysts of Cichano\u016dskaja,” the Investigative Committee announced on January 25. Those targeted include Ryhor Astapienia, director of the Belarusian Initiative at Chatham House; Andrej Kazakievi\u010d of the Political Sphere Institute; Juryj Drakachrust of RFE\/RL; and <\/em>philosopher Piotra Rudko\u016dski. They have been charged with serious crimes, including conspiracy to seize power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since prosecutors cannot physically reach them, the special proceedings imply trials in absentia. Some of them have been abroad for a long time, others left Belarus after 2020 fearing political reprisals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The list includes people close to Cichano\u016dskaja and those who criticized her team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“These persons actively participated in the development and implementation of the concept of destructive activities aimed at harming the national security of the Republic of Belarus and contributed to inciting social enmity and discord in society,” the committee said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Belarusian government has already imprisoned many critics for allegedly “inciting social enmity.” Criticism is not a crime in democracies, but is a grave crime in Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belarusian prosecutors can classify any critical discussion online as a serious crime. Jura\u015b Zia\u0144kovi\u010d, Alaksandar Fiaduta and Ryhor Kastusio\u016d were given 10-11 years in prison in 2022 for a Zoom call that prosecutors categorized as conspiracy to assassinate Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raids for food<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On January 23, law enforcers raided the homes of former political prisoners and their relatives. According to the Viasna Human Rights Center, at least 165 people were targeted with 70 women detained in Brest alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the arrests were reportedly linked to the INeedHelpBY, an opposition initiative that helps reprisal victims with food. A week earlier, authorities branded it an \u201cextremist\u201d group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, IneedHelpBY has not recorded any \u201csystem hacks and information leaks\u201d that could expose its volunteers to danger, its head Filip Ha\u016dry\u0161a\u016d said on Instagram.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He noted that some detainees were asked questions about food parcels from INeedHelpBY. Most have been released as police have no evidence to prove their communication with the initiative, he noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was not the first time that relatives of political prisoners have been targeted. In late November, secret services raided homes of people associated with the opposition Coordination Council and their relatives. Law enforcers carried out more than 130 searches and issued 145 orders to confiscate property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is the fault of the relatives, who have already suffred so much in recent years? Some of them, struggling to survive, received charitable food parcels. Has that aid really undermined the foundations of the regime?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solidarity groups still alive<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The crackdown was not just about sausage or biscuits ordered via an online platform. The government is determined to stifle solidarity that manifested itself in Belarusian society in 2020 and has survived despite the regime’s brutality. The purpose of this wave of reprisals is to fragment society, isolate and demoralize dissenters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The strongman is following in the footsteps of Josef Stalin. After imprisoning or driving into exile opposition leaders and some participants in the 2020 protests, authorities have turned fire on their relatives. One thing the current regime has not yet done is to coin the term “a family member of a traitor to the Motherland” used extensively under Stalin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The security forces are constantly looking for new victims. The government has recently imprisoned musicians, The Tor Band and Nizkiz, and now police are after analysts and journalists, basically anyone with critical views. All dictators hate freedom of thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few days ago, the Prosecutor General’s Office initiated criminal proceedings against Siarhiej Dubaviec, a RFE\/RL <\/em>Belarus Service journalist, accusing him of “deliberate actions to rehabilitate Nazism.” Dubaviec is known as an advocate of Belarusian renaissance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minsk is clearly trying to identify Belarusian national ideas with Nazism. It has already declared the historic white-red-white flag as \u201cfascist,\u201d persecuted people for using the Pahonia coat of arms, and slapped extremist labels on dead classics of Belarusian literature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now it targets intellectuals who promote Belarusian nationalism. Simultaneously, the pro-Russian regime has opened the floodgates to the “Russian world.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sinister logic<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Interestingly, some independent analysts, including those under investigation, criticized the opposition for a lack of leverage on domestic politics in Belarus, losing touch with the masses, relying on the 2020 momentum and failing to keep up with developments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opposition, for instance, failed to deliver on its promise to stage an election for the Coordination Council as an alternative to the parliamentary and local polls announced by the government for February 25.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, the Coordination Council has missed deadlines and is dragging its feet on designing an electoral system. It will certainly not be able to hold its election in parallel with what opponents call “no-choice elections” for the House of Representatives and local councils.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clearly, the government is short of confidence. Officials are preparing for the election day like for a big fight. \u0141uka\u0161enka and his top election officer, Ihar Karpenka, keep talking about the enemy’s imminent plots and call on the generals to be vigilant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why are they stirring up hysteria and stepping up reprisals? Deeply scarred by the 2020 protests, Minsk prefers to err on the side of caution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides, the repressive machine has its own logic, its own agenda. By opening new cases, law enforcers try to prove their worth, justify the need for funding and advance careers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vengeance for the panic and trauma of 2020 is also an obvious motive. The top brass, contrary to what officials claim, do not behave like they feel that \u0141uka\u0161enka won a landslide victory. After all, they witnessed voters queueing up at polling stations across the country to cast ballots for Cichano\u016dskaja in the 2020 race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The incumbent, whose voter base has deflated, made it clear that he will run again in 2025, so he needs to stifle dissent completely to be on the safe side. Naturally, the brutal reprisals have silenced many critics in Belarus. But their longing for change and the right to elect a better government, has not gone away. The big chief and his lieutenants are aware of it, so they see no other way but to keep up attacks on the opposition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a new wave of reprisals, law enforcers conducted massive raids on donors and recipients of food aid on January 23. At least 165 former political prisoners and their relatives were targeted, as well as those who donated solidarity food packages. In a separate development, the Investigative Committee brought charges against 20 scholars and journalists […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":63152,"template":"","rubric":[22],"class_list":["post-63646","longreads","type-longreads","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","rubric-theviewer"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nArrests for food aid as harsh reprisals continue | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In a new wave of reprisals, law enforcers conducted massive raids on donors and recipients of food aid on January 23. 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