Zyanon Paznyak: That night "operation" was led by Lukashenka :: Charter'97 :: News

11 March 2005 19 nineteen deputies of the BNF opposition at the Supreme Soviet of the 12th convening announced a hunger strike protesting against the referendum on abolition of the white-red-white flag and “Pagonya”(Pursuit) emblem as the state symbols, canceling of the Belarusian language status as a single state language, integration with Russia and President’s right to dissolve the parliament proposed by president Alyaksandr Lukashenka. When after announcing the hunger strike the BNF Party deputies gathered around the speaker’s rostrum the majority of the deputies didn’t vote for Lukashenka’s proposals. But at 12 March nights the military forces were led into the Oval Hall; people in black masks (“Alfa” regiment of the KGB) slaughtered the deputies and pulled them out of the building. Chairman of the BNF opposition at the Supreme Soviet of the 12th convening Zyanon Paznyak is on the phone in New York speaking with the Radio Svaboda.

(Syargey Navumchik) Mr. Zyanon, I would prefer not to keep to the succession of that night’s events because much has been written about the 11-12 March 2005 overnight and even much more is to be written. But still before coming to that situation analysis I would like to ask the following: 18 July 1995 in Kiev during the Patriarch Uladzimir’s funeral a special regiment severely bit up the participants of the ceremony. But they managed to burry the Patriarch because they were surrounded by the deputies of the Supreme Soviet and none of the militiamen or special regiment staff dared to strike the opposition leader Vyacheslau Charnavil. That March night in the Oval Hall you suffered more than anyone else. I speak as a witness of those events: you were sitting in front of myself and before they pulled me out I had managed to see as one man in the black mask struck you over the chest with his foot and then started squeezing out your eyes. Could you have supposed the cruel physical actions against yourself and other deputies?

(Zyanon Paznyak) “I could not have supposed such actions. But they made me suspect that specimens in black masks were strangers in Belarus. But now from the speech of General Kez at the Supreme Soviet it became known that that night we were attacked by the special regiment of 600 people and the “Alfa” regiment of the KGB. But even now I do not exclude that there were people from Moscow among them. And, secondly, it has occurred to me that there could have been a special recommendation of Lukashenka ”Bit them up without further ado!” As far as I know his everlastingly offended soul, the scene of our beating up and disgracing watched on the display could have brought him incredible satisfaction, a moment of happiness .At that moment he could have supposedly felt himself ” the great”. And thirdly, it happened late at night in the closed building. The intruders didn’t have any witnesses and there was a guarantied indulgence at their disposal .All that woke up their dark instincts. And we can’t compare it with the events in Kiev”.

(Navumchik) Certainly we can imagine what could have been done to the 19 deputies by those 600 specially trained people. And on the other hand, they may not have bitten the deputies but simply forced them out of the Oval Hall. But they were beating the people up in the hall and when pulling them through the lobby; they cruelly threw the deputies into the “Black Mary” vehicles, hurting their heads. That was fixed by the investigation and medical examination. It is clear that they followed the order. What was the aim of such actions (not to kill but to slaughter)?

(Paznyak) ”Definitely, there was a personal order of Lukashenka who was present that night in the House of Government and supervised “the operation”.
His nature is reflected in this action as in the mirror. We got to know him very well at our joint football trainings when he was madly chasing Yuri Belenky all over the football field. For a person of such psychological type it was important to manifest that he disrespected us that we were of no value to him. He was sending his message to us that we were nobody and nothing to him. And that supposedly exalted him. All in all, that was a simple bromide of the great power and a small personality conflict”.

Society was not national

(Navumchik) Just after the brutal termination of the hunger strike Vasil Bykau declared to the Svaboda “since that moment the president’s junta was to start ruling”. But the fact is that the society, at least its major part, remained indifferent to that event.

(Paznyak) It was because the Belarusian society, at least its major part, at that moment was not a national society. It was a typical soviet society whose response was typically soviet. When a student, I hired the apartment of a good-natured man, an army master sergeant. Bringing up his little son he didn’t spare the rod and he also used to tell him “Don’t get involved!” and “Be idle!» That is the motto of the soviet public conduct – mind your own business and it is not my concern”.

(Navumchik) The next day certain western newspapers published the reports at their front pages. The Department of State of the USA declared the protest. The group of deputies manifested their protest. But it was the group and not the Parliament. And it is to be admitted that there was no international response, which the opposition might have relied upon. Why? What do you think?

( Paznyak) At that moment the West didn’t consider Lukashenka as a dictator. They thought that there was a sort of quasi-democracy in Belarus. The events in Belarus of 12 March overnight could not be digested by their western mind. As far as Lithuania is concerned everything is as simple as that. When we, Belarusian deputies, were sitting in the Landzbergis’ office at the Supreme Soviet in Vilnya at his own invitation waiting for the Soviet tanks and for becoming witnesses of the supposed events, for them it was one thing. And when military forces intruded into the Supreme Soviet and bit up the Belarusian deputies, it was quite another thing.»

“The outstanding is based on the outstanding “

(Navumchik) 19 deputies of the BNF opposition tried to oppose the referendum which was widely estimated as “the national shame” after which the stage of the national Revival was stopped. However, recently the thought was expressed in Nasha Niva that not everything was so tragic that “the process of the culture and language development has become natural”(that means that they are developing without any influence of the sate) and “ today’s Belarusian culture is a modern dynamic culture built on such three foundations as ARCHE, Glyobus and Internet”. Do you agree with such optimistic assessments?

(Paznyak) “The Belarusian culture is based on Kupala, Kolas, Bykau, on Bagdanovich, Baradulin, Razanau, Buraukin, Nyaklyayau .Say, the outstanding is based on the outstanding, the essential-on the essential, the national on the national. Frankly speaking, I am sometimes scared of this bohemian attitude, this secondary mentality during the plague .In such cases I painfully feel how we miss Bykau.»

“Correction of deformation is treated as radicalism”

(Navumchik) Among the issues submitted to the referendum by Lukashenka in 1995 the major ones were the status of the Belarusian language as a single state language and economic integration with Russia. A number of the current oppositional policymakers reproach you personally that in early nineties the error was committed, that is dwelling upon the necessity of Belarissification and they insist that neither the language nor relationship with Russia were to be raised.

(Paznyak) The truth of Chernobyl, Kurapaty and mainly independence of Belarus have become possible only because the BNF, primarily, the BNF opposition at the Supreme Soviet, were not mistaken. During the war the advance guard may win at the battlefield. But it has never happened that political and public advance guard and 8 % deputies in the Parliament have won the battle for Independence by legal, political, parliamentary means without making a single mistake. Any mistake in such a case could have become a failure.

(Navumchik) However it is to be admitted that now the national idea is touched upon even by those who previously ignored her though often without stressing the issues of the Belarusian language and national culture.

(Paznyak) ‘The national idea has two social components .The first and foremost one is the national language .The second is the national independence of the country. Ignoring the major components of the national idea may be demanded only by complete fools or by enemies. The kitchen-made “theory of hoses” does not suit here. The primary method of implementation of the national idea is a universal ideology of the national revival, which stresses the necessity of restoring everything that was ruined by the invaders and deformed by the empire fans. Without restoration of the ruined, without correction of the deformed the national idea will have neither social nor electoral basis”.