At Totalitarianism’s Threshold :: Charter'97 :: News

Having annihilated the free press and NGOs, the Belarusian regime got down to destroying the human rights watchdog organizations. Yesterday the Minsk city court ruled to liquidate the public organization “Legal Aid to Population”, famous for its investigations into the “show trials”, Nemiga stampede tragedy et cetera. The dangerous precedent has now been set up: Belarus unleashed a campaign, aimed at the complete annihilation of human rights structures. Apparently, the next candidate for closure will be human rights center “Vesna”, which had been checked for no good reason five times over the seven months this year by the Justice Ministry.

Crackdown on the human rights movement will usher in the coming of totalitarianism to power in Belarus. The country has been violating human rights for many a year now – such as the right for the freedom of speech, assemblies, associations, conscience et cetera. However, only this year repressions against the civil society are becoming so grandiose and massive in character.

In light of intensifying repressions the activities of the Belarusian human rights organizations are becoming crucial to the country. Founders of the Czech Charter’77 used to teach in the past: “If you have some of your people arrested for politics, next morning the whole world must be aware of that”. The Belarusian human rights defenders fulfilled that task alright.

The world knows almost everything about the unceasing human rights violations in Belarus. Belarusian authorities are constantly and bitterly criticized by the influential international structures, the governments of Western European countries and USA, authoritative human rights structures worldwide.

Thanks to the human rights defenders, presidential elections 2001 were also denied recognition internationally. Hundreds of opposition activists, arrested during mass protest actions, were considered the prisoners of conscience. Many of them received political asylum abroad. Owing to the human rights advocates, the world doesn’t keep in oblivion the names of the missing opposition leaders Viktor Gonchar, Yuri Zakharenko, businessman Anatoly Krasovsky, cameraman Dmitry Zavadsky and, last but not least, late Gennady Karpenko – Lukashenko’s most ardent opponent, who passed away under mysterious circumstances.

The afore-mentioned facts is but a tiny outline of everything, which has been and is being done by the Belarusian human rights defenders, for which they get persecuted all of the time. The country, which badly violates human rights, doesn’t need them. Dictatorship in Belarus is becoming harsh and insolent all the more. Today it is plain clear that Belarus dwells in transition period: from authoritarianism to totalitarianism.