Irina Krasovskaya: “I want the regime to be changed” :: Charter'97 :: News

The issue of political kidnappings in Belarus has becоme very topical lately. It is discussed in all international institutions. Harsh report “Disappeared People in Belarus” presented by Christos Purgurides, special speaker of the Parliamentarian Assembly of the European Union, has produced an enormous resonance. He demanded resignation of the high-ranking officials who were associated with disappearances of Belarusian public and political figures. Only last week a number of international leaders and institutions expressed their anxiety concerning disappearances of political opponents to Lukashenko’s regime. It was done by participants of the international conference “Future of Democracies outside the Baltic Region” in Riga, deputies of the European Parliament, and representatives of the Congress of the United States of America. Press-center of Charter’97 talks to Irina Krasovskaya, whose husband disappeared in 1999, about the above-mentioned facts and other events. Today Irina Krasovskaya is the leader of civil initiative We Remember and a member of European Coalition Free Belarus.

– Almost five years have passed since the disappearances of your husband, Victor Gonchar, Yuriy Zakharenko and Dmitriy Zavadskiy. For a long time Europe did not pay much attention to the issue of political kidnappings in Belarus. Today this issue can be heard in all international structures. How would you explain such activities?

– I cannot say that Europe did not pay attention to the issue. There was awareness, but in my opinion Europe reacted very delicately to these facts. A typical European intellectual simply could not imagine that people could disappear in the center of Europe and the acting authorities could be associated with it. At the same time, we, the relatives, were absolutely shocked and a little bit naïve when it happened. We hoped that blatant lawlessness would be punished. I did not know where to go and ask for help and support. We have struggled with the system that had everything, when we had only the truth and our friends on our side. As the time passed testimonies of witnesses, copies of documents, which had scary, but truthful information about the disappearances of our loved ones, started emerging. Even sceptics started to believe that the authorities were associated with these events. The information about the disappearances was becoming more provable and bitter for us, and more shocking for ordinary people. Every person could stop and think of life and death. Everyone could try it on his or her own life and that of his or her family members.

We understood that we could not count on the rule of law in this country; that is why we started to appeal to the international community. There were hearings held in parliaments of Lithuania, Poland, and Russia; meetings with representatives of American, Sweden, Dutch, French, Latvian, and German governments. For more than four years we have had meetings with representatives of OSCE, Council of Europe and the European Parliament. The majority of members of the Committee on Human rights of the United Nations accepted the resolution on Belarus.

But again the Belarusian officials did not give an honest answer to the question of political disappearances. How long was it possible to wait for their answer? Everything has its limits. Especially considering that it was not a simple question, it was a firm demand for an answer. The lawlessness could not be everlasting. The silence of the Belarusian authorities provided grounds for creation of Special Commission of the Parliamentarian Assembly of the Council of Europe on investigation of the disappearances in Belarus. As a result of it we have honest, brave, firm, and correct report of Christos Purgurides. The most important thing is that in the report strict enough, but fair measures were foreseen as mechanisms of influence on the authorities. Maybe the evil will be finally punished.

– A lot of people noted your brilliant speech at the international conference “Future of Democracies outside the Baltic Region” in Riga. How would you comment the results of the conference?

– An enormous number of outstanding people, who define and make the world policy, best political technologists, most influential representatives of the world media, and leaders of the opposition are seriously concerned by the situation and future destiny of Belarus. The dictatorship in the center of Europe could sound funny unless you lived here and felt it yourself. It is certainly good that the rest of the world community becomes to be aware of it too. A joint position of Europe and the United States on that issue is vitally important. And, the main idea of the conference was that the situation in Belarus should be changed.

I said in my speech that we badly need Europe and the United States behind us as much as we need the united Belarusian opposition in our country. If one does not want more disappearances, if one wants his or her children to be able to go and study in Europe, if one does not want to see older people counting their pennies – we should be together. We have only one goal – free, proper, beautiful life for our children, our parents and ourselves. We should be together in order to win it.

– The Washington Times compared you to Corazon Aquino. Does it mean that you became a politician?

– I have never been a politician before. However, I have always read the independent newspapers and listened with pleasure to clever speeches of young politicians that were different from those I could see when I was a student and later on when I became a teacher. Politics came into my life when my husband was kidnapped. After almost five years of searching for honest answers to the question who killed my husband, who ordered this crime, today I can say that I do not like these authorities, because I will never learn what happened to my husband as long as they remain in power. Today all the evidence shows that the people who occupy senior positions in the Government are associated with the crime.

I had a successful family, beloved husband, good job and nice prospects. Suddenly all of it disappeared. Show me a woman who would not protect her family, her husband and herself in such a situation. Everyone perceives everything that is going on in his or her country and society through the prism of his or her personal life.

What should I be grateful for to these authorities? For the destruction of my life? Or for the fear of my neighbors who are afraid to speak in my flat and ready to communicate with me only by writing short notes? Or probably for my mother who cannot walk after she had lived through our family’s tragedy? I do not want such things happen to other people. It is a very painful way. I am not a politician in a real sense. What I do goes from my heart and my life experience. I want the regime to be changed in order to learn who and where killed my husband. I do not believe those who say that it will happen not too soon and that perhaps some day in the future we will learn the truth. I want to live in a bright, happy, and just country. I do not want anybody to be kidnapped. And I want it happen not in 30 years, but now.

– On the eve of the elections to parliament everyone says about the necessity of unity of all democratic forces of Belarus. Do you think it is possible for the democratic forces to get united and what is needed for it?

– I believe it is possible. There are a lot of clever, talented and brave people in our country. But politics is a science and there is no place for amateurs there if we want to win. Political unity, joint strategy for victory, positive goals attractive for people, serious mobilization campaign, ability to defend people and the victory are needed today. And, what is vitally important for democratic forces is that they need to have a strong desire to win and not some day, but here and now.

Photo. Irina Krasovskay with Richard Armitage, deputy of Secretary of State of the United States of America, November 2003.