To the Question of the Violence of the Belarusian State till 2020
Now we have a situation in which some of Lukashenko’s supporters who swapped to opposition are trying to prove that violence from the regime is something new and unexpected. They say that no one in the Interior Ministry had ever used violence before, and that Belarus had had a state based on the rule of law until 2020. In an attempt to create a new history, a separate reality is formed, which absolutely denies the experience of both those who have experienced violence by the Belarusian state and those who have directly used violence against the population.
The reasons for this alternative history are simple – former Lukashists are trying to protect themselves from any attacks by both the regime and the radical part of the population. As if they didn’t know about torture and murder because of working in the basement and never meeting ordinary people. Violence was experienced not only by Olynevich or Dedok, who described in their books systematic violence in detention centers and Belarusian prisons in great detail. Anyone who has been in prison, even for non-political reasons, is well aware of everything that goes on behind the walls of the colonies and prisons across the country. And this system has existed not since 2020, and not even since 2010, but throughout the entire Lukashenko regime. If there are people in your neighborhood, who have been in Belarusian SIZOs, colonies or prisons – ask them about the violence on the part of cops.
We shouldn’t forget about the extrajudicial killings of criminal bosses and gangsters in the 90s. This is the very example of the absence of any basic picture of a rule-of-law state.
The level of violence really did increase after the elections. But violence itself has existed in the system for generations. We know this, ordinary citizens know this, cops know this. But we keep being told that this has never happened before.
Bypole, in his latest “investigation,” tries to provide a story as if the violence began in 2020. If you live in the world of former cops, before August the agencies were “law enforcement” and now they have become punitive. Interestingly, none of the bypolls themselves have yet to talk about the violence they used against the detainees. Given that there is at least one former GUBOP colonel among them, there is a lot to tell.
Take at least former X-day blogger and failed leader of the revolution Igor Makar – he spoke honestly in one of his interviews about how they went to practice beating people in the colonies. And this was not October 2020, but the late 90s, early 2000s. The moment of consolidation of Lukashenko’s dictatorship. There was blood on the hands of Belarusian cops even before 2020, and if any of them start telling you that they only served bullets, you can always remind them what those bullets were used for.
Why does it matter here and now? Public memory is fading very quickly compared to YouTube videos. It’s been a year since OUR uprising, and the former cops you and I forced to flee are talking about how it was their uprising too. No, you jumped on the boat hoping to be in a win-win situation. Otherwise you would have left the police forces before August, but for some reason none of you did. And don’t go on about how everyone was dumbfounded by election fraud. That would surprise a four year old child or a Western liberal. You can’t peddle such a blatant fairy tale to us. And despite all your attempts to whitewash yourself, there are those who will remember and never forget.
The lawlessness in the country will not be stopped by the former cops with their ultimate plans. There have already been enough cops who tried to lead the protest. Only the people can free themselves from the dictatorship. And we have shown that we do not need big politicians and street leaders to revolt. We can throw off the shackles without debt to a new liberator. For only then can we remain truly free!
