Democrats demand to open criminal case against Lukashenka

A demand to open a criminal case relating the statement of Lukashenka on rigging election results was received by the Office of Prosecutor General on September 24.

As informed by BelaPAN, among the signee of the application are the former presidential candidate Alyaksandr Kazulin, the chairman of the United Civil Party Anatol Lyabedzka, a former Chairman of the Supreme Council Myachyslau Hryb, film directors Viktar Dashuk and Yury Khashchavatski, trade union leaders Alyaksandr Yarashuk and Alyaksandr Bukhvostau, politicians Syarhei Kalyakin, Vintsuk Vyachorka, Mikola Statkevich, Viktar Ivashkevich and others.

The grounds for their appeal were the words from Lukashenka’s interview published in Russian newspaper Izvestiya on August 27:

““93% voted for me in the last election. And I confessed then that they simply started to press on me to falsify results together… I ordered to make not 93%, but something about 80%, I do not remember how many… as more than 90% cannot be swallowed psychologically. But it was the truth.”

“It was the second public confession of rigging election results made by Alyaksandr Lukashenka, so his words cannot be left without response of the public, law-enforcing agencies of Belarus and international community,” the address reads.

According to its initiators, such statements, and also absence of response to them by the General Prosecutor’s office “give grounds to say that in 2010-2011 election results in local and presidential elections in Belarus will be rigged again”.

“The Constitution declares that all citizens are equal before the law. As the Prosecutor General of Belarus, you have a chance to demonstrate that it is really so,” oppositional leaders write to Ryhor Vasilevich.

They call upon the prosecutor to “find out whom Alyaksandr Lukashenka ordered to rig election results, and who and in which way realized it in practice”.