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Ales Bialiatski: Polish-Belarusian Contacts Are Not Backed By Serious Changes In Belarus Itself

Ales Bialiatski: Polish-Belarusian Contacts Are Not Backed By Serious Changes In Belarus Itself
ALES BIALIATSKI

Lukashenka seeks to get economic benefits from the improvement of relations with Poland, and at the same time he does everything not to change anything in the country.

The head of the human rights center “Viasna” Ales Bialiatski told Radio Ratsya whether Polish economic interests would outshine the problems of Belarusian democracy.

– Both the Belarusian side and the Polish side, represented by Mateusz Morawiecki, have announced at the Belarusian-Polish forum “Good-Neighbourliness” that the Belarusian-Polish cooperation will deepen. How will this affect the protection of human rights in Belarus?

– Contacts between the official Minsk and the official Warsaw have dramatically strengthened during last months. Five Polish Ministers have already visited Minsk. And the visit of Deputy Prime Minister in charge of economy and finance, the key issues of the development of the Polish economy is, actually, the most significant of them, after the visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Witold Waszczykowski to Belarus. No wonder he was welcomed by Lukashenka, as the Belarusian side seeks primarily economic benefits in contacts with Poland.

I think that this cooperation is of a tactical kind. However, these contacts are revealing. And, unfortunately, they are not backed up by any serious changes in Belarus itself, what concerns public and political rights, and the very structure of the economy. Again, at the same time we had a meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister of Poland Marek Ziolkowski, where all those, who met him, and they were representatives of public organizations and political parties, were talking over that the Belarusian authorities were trying to get some kind of economic incentives and benefits by improving relations with Poland, and at the same time were doing nothing for changes in their country.

– In other words, Belarus chooses entirely the Chinese model of development?

– It’s quite possible. The only thing that puts a crimp into it, is that Belarus is a small country. And Lukashenka has repeatedly said that “Belarus is on the small side. And if we were a bit larger ...”

We also must not forget that Belarus has signed international agreements on human rights and freedoms. And we, human rights activists, are striving for our country to fulfill them. We want nothing else. We want the Belarusian Constitution to be maintained, and the Belarusian authorities comply with the signed international agreements. The authorities do not like that. They stress that we have “a unique path of development.” This path of development is not new. It reminds the Chinese and Azerbaijani models, when there is a strong authoritarian government in the country that grinds the people down and at the same time is devious, contacting the rich countries, developed democracy, with the EU, emphasizing their economic relations.

– Do the Belarusian human rights defenders fear that amid this economic warming there will be no attention to the violation of human rights?

– I think that the Belarusian authorities have repeatedly proclaimed to Polish officials that in order to improve relations, the Belarusian Radio Racyja, for example, the TV channel Belsat, have to be closed, that the support of other independent media has to be stopped.

I think that such signals from the Belarusian Foreign Ministry go to the Polish authorities. At the same time we say that it is by no means possible, because there are no structural changes in Belarus. At any time we can return to a significant strengthening of repressions, up to tens, or maybe hundreds of political prisoners. No one knows how the situation will develop in Belarus in the near future.

Ales Bialiatski notes that there are three political prisoners in Belarus at the moment. In addition, according to the Human Rights Center Viasna, the number of politically motivated administrative cases tripled in 2016, compared to last year.

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