Aleh Vouchak: New prison terms could be expected soon

Corruption and “control of corruption” are a standard topic for Lukashenka in the run-up to every “election”.

Such an opinion has been expressed by the head of “Legal aid to population”, a former investigator of the prosecutor’s office Aleh Vouchak, who comments to charter97.org on Lukashenka’s mentioning of high-profile cases during his address to the nation.

“The fact is that no staff reduction for bureaucrats has taken place, that is why lots of budget money is spent on them. And Lukashenka has understood that as of today, no bureaucrat would close his loopholes and survive on one salary only. It means that “war on corruption” is to be enhanced, and in the near future new arrests are expected,” the lawyer says.

At the same time, the human rights activist stressed that the measures taken by the government would not eliminate corruption, as there is no comprehensive programme on fight against corruption in Belarus.

“In general, corruption and “fight against corruption” is a standard topic for Lukashenka in the run-up to every election campaign. It is easier to initiate cases from time to time, and to imprison someone, than to allow people to privatize flats without charge, for example. And in general, it is not so significant for people, whether somebody was imprisoned for corruption or not,” Aleh Vouchak added.

We remind that today during the annual address to the nation and the “parliament” the Belarusian leader told about details of some high-profile corruption cases.

“In Belarus there was and will never be indulgence for people enmeshed in corruption,” he stated.