Zyanon Paznyak called names of Kurapaty vandals

Zyanon Paznyak, leader of the Conservative Christian Party of the Belarusian Popular Front, told Radio Svaboda about acts of vandalism in Kurapaty, Russian imperialism, and veterans of NKVD (Soviet secret police).

Hanna Sous: Last week, a criminal case against vandals, detained by activists in Kurapaty when they were breaking crosses, was closed. What conclusion should people, regarding Kurapaty as sacred place, make? Should they continue patrolling the memorial complex? Should they try to find out names of vandals and names of those who give such orders?

Zyanon Paznyak: It may be concluded that pro-Russian regime in Belarus is interested in destruction of Kurapaty and inspires and supports vandalism. Vandals didn’t receive direct orders, otherwise they could say names of those who give orders. The KGB makes it through influential agents. Influential agents may be friends, teachers, and even parents of vandals.

What concerns identification of vandals, it is not a question. You should have asked me. Here are their names. The first vandal is Astreika Paval Andreevich, born December 29, 1990 in Nizhnevartovsk, the Tumen region, Russia. The second vandal is Shyshko Vadzim Dzmitryevich, born July 7, 1992 in Minsk.

On a question what should be done I can say that we should demand the governmental bodies to obey the laws. There are two ways – a procedural one and a social and political one. They both should be used.

Sous: US president-elect Barack Obama takes office tomorrow. In your view, will US policy towards Belarus be corrected or changed?

Paznyak: I think the US policy towards Belarus won’t change. The question is how influential Biden will be. He is a clever politician, he doesn’t see Russia’s soul in Putin’s eyes. He has a similar vision with McCain.

Sous: Mr Zyanon, 15 years have passed since you legendary article “About Russian Imperialism and its Danger” was published in “Narodnaya Volya” newspaper. On that day, US president Bill Clinton visited Belarus and Lithuanian communists Burakiavicius and Ermalavicius were extradited from Minsk. Please, say why article “About Russian Imperialism and its Danger” was written in Russian. Did you want to expand the circle of readers or did you have other grounds?

Paznyak: To expand the circle of readers, one should publish articles about problems of the nation in Belarusian, so that the elite can read them. People, who understand much, who are interested in state and can think. Writing such articles in Russian is almost a vain thing, because Russian-speaking person stands aside from Belarusian national problems. This work can be useful only for the Belarusian elite, who know Russian and can read this article. The article turns into a social thought because it is read by the elite. While Russian-speaking inhabitants are not interested in national questions. Their reaction to Belarusian problems is silence or lamentation and anger, if they are scared with something. This is what happened to the article about Russian imperialism.

NKVD veterans cried so loud that even late members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) joined the chorus. The article was written in 1993 in Russian intentionally, for “Savetskaya Belorussiya” newspaper. But editor-in-chief Ihar Asinski resisted fiercely this publication. Under the law of those times, People’s deputy could make an editor to publish an article. But I never used this right. I didn’t press Asinski, I took the article and gave it to “Narodnaya Volya”, Syaredzich published it. I just had no time to re-write it in Belarusian...