BT censored Lukashenka’s promise to release Khalip (Video)

The TV channel Belarus-1 four times shortened the scandal interview of Lukashenka to The Independent newspaper.

Yesterday the state-owned TV channel Belarus-1 showed the interview of the ruler to the British journalists. Despite it lasted for four hours, BT showed a bit more than an hour and cut the dictator’s promises to release the Novaya Gazeta journalist Iryna Khalip.

Last week Aliaksandr Lukashenka gave an interview to British journalists, in which he mentioned political prisoners, dictatorship and the teddy-bear dropped at Minsk from a plane, Novaya Gazeta reports. One of the questions of Evgeny Lebedev was about Iryna Khalip. In May last year she was found guilty of participating in the mass disturbances after the 19 December 2010 elections and sentenced for two year in prison with a postponement of two years. These two years she can’t leave Minsk, has to register herself in the local police department weekly and return home no later than 10 p.m. (she is checked by policemen at least once a week). The term of the postponement runs out on 20 July next year and then the case of Iryna will be sent to the court for the second time. The court will decide to liberate her, send to a prison or leave her in the same status for some more time.

So, Evgeny Lebedevl asked Lukashenka why Iryna Khalip couldn’t leave the country. “I know Iryna personally, I’m sure she is not a criminal and I’m ready to vouch for her. Why can’t she, for example, go to visit a doctor in Moscow?”, - he asked.

Aliaksandr Lukashenka’s response was unpredictable:

- Is she here? I thought she was in Moscow. Send her there today with the evening horse. Take her away and never bring her here again. I can’t talk about this person at all. Never use this word in vain. You want her in Moscow – take her there.

- She is under a recognizance not to leave, - the journalist reminded.

- Oh, she is under a recognizance… Andrei, - the ruler addressed one of the subordinates. – Specify, who is responsible for that – someone from police or someone else, and tell me. <…> You see, a dictatorship is also good. Not a single president would make a decision immediately, but I just did. <…> You’ll take Khalip home instead of a wife today.

However, literally in couple of hours after that information appeared in Belarusian media, the publication with excerpts from Aliaksandr Lukashenka’s interview, where he spoke about the journalist, disappeared form the web-site of the British newspaper Evening Standard. In the press-service of the ruler they claimed that the Belarusian dictator didn’t give any interview about Khalip.

In a week the British television and radio company BBC issued a video which confirmed Lukashenka’s words and the moment was shown when he was promising to release Iryna Khalip.