Iryna Krasowskaya’s Speech At Riga Forum :: Charter'97 :: News

The member of the European Coalition “Free Belarus”, leader of the civil initiative “We Remember”, Iryna Krasowskaya, whose husband disappeared without traces in 1999, delivered a speech in Riga at the international forum “Future of democracy outside the Baltic states” on February 6. We offer you the full text of Iryna Krasowskaya’s speech.

My name is Irina Krasovskaya. I am the wife of Anatoliy Krasovskiy, a businessman who provided financial assistance to Belarusian democratic forces for many years. On 16 September 1999, my husband together with his friend, vice-speaker of the Belarusian Parliament Victor Gonchar, disappeared. For the last four years, I have started my every speech with these words.

But these are not merely words. They are the cries of wives, mothers and children of those men who did not come back home only because they worked to allow the people of Belarus to live in a free and a safer place. No matter how often I repeat these words the situation in my country grows worse and worse by the day.

The men associated with disappearances of my husband, Victor Gonchar, Yuriy Zakharenko, and Dmitriy Zavadskiy have not been called to the account. Everyone in Belarus knows the names of the killers: Sheiman, Sivakov, Pavlichenko. They are still occupying senior positions in the Government. They believe that there will never be an investigation of political murders.

I am grateful to God that we do not have thousands of victims, who have been tortured and shot as it was under Saddam Hussein in Iraq. There are not thousands of innocent people who were killed and disappeared on the scale of the ethnic cleansing under Slobodan Milosevic. But I cannot agree with the cynics who maintain that not been enough people killed in Belarus for the world community to intervene or even pay attention.

Thousands of Belarusians have been beaten up, humiliated and jailed. Thousands of Belarusians have been dismissed and expelled from universities for their political views. These dissidents now live in a shadow world without education, without jobs and, in some cases, without homes or apartments. All because of what they said or what they believed.

The last dictatorship in Europe is in Belarus. The crimes I have told you about happened in the heart of Europe.

What will become of my sad country? In my opinion, there are only three possibilities.

First, everything may remain as it is. And, the regime, gradually goes out of its mind in a sea of poverty and lawlessness. The steady stream of political refugees from Belarus to the countries of Europe and America becomes a flood.

Second, Belarus may be absorbed by Russia. Under Mr. Putin’s autocratic rule, we may begin to see the revival of empire. For the first time in decades, a country disappears from the map of Europe, and Belarus becomes a “hot spot” for the world’s media. Unfortunately, the journalists will arrive far too late.

Third, the joint efforts of democratic states and Belarusian citizens change the situation. Lukashenko’s criminal regime is stripped of its power. The democratic world expands and the community of Europe is reinforced with ten million educated, peaceful and talented people.

Unfortunately, we have to choose between these outcomes today. We are approaching our last chance to change our country.

Since 1994, Lukashenko has conducted a step-by-step cleansing of the Belarusian democratic field. He has completely destroyed the independent media and driven civil society underground. These actions are intended to prepare the ground for the upcoming 2004 parliament elections. It is certain that the regime will not permit free and fair elections in 2004 and will falsify the results.

The people of Belarus cannot withstand the repeated theft of their political freedoms in fraudulent elections. It is our obligation to resist these actions and to begin the process of democratic transformation.

In my view, the tragic flaw of opposition politics has been our bickering. The democratic forces inside Belarus now have to set aside their petty differences and personal ambitions to unite in a common front. We simply cannot be effective in mobilizing popular opposition to Lukashenko and in the parliamentary campaign unless we consolidate our forces.

But unity alone will not suffice against a well-entrenched dictator. We will need the active support of the governments of Europe and the United States. We have before us examples of Solidarity, Charter 77 or Latvia’s Popular Front. We have yet to produce a Sandra Kalniete or Adam Michnik. But we have received far less in terms of support and training than those who have come before us in Poland, the Czech Republic and Baltic States. We need a united Europe and United States at our backs as much as we need a united Belarus opposition at our front.

I believe that the people of Belarus are a brave people, who will fight for freedom from dictatorship. Given the chance, these people are ready to take responsibility for change in Belarus.

Although, my two daughters still cannot accept the loss of their father, I pray that one day my granddaughter Martha (who was born three years after her grandfather disappeared) will come to lay flowers at his grave.

I have a hope that one day the cases of Victor Gonchar, Yuriy Zakharenko, Dmitriy Zavadskiy and my husband will be investigated honestly and that we will know the truth.

I have a dream that one day Belarusian citizens will speak openly and freely what they think and that Belarus will finally become a free European country. My dream is that the most basic of all human rights, the right to live, will never again be violated in my country.
Thank you.