The trial of the opponent of the regime of Alexander Lukashenko will begin on Tuesday January 17, in the absence of the one who is in exile, accused of high treason.
Source AFP
© FRANCOIS DEVOS / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP
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Unot “farce” and “revenge”: this is what represents, in the eyes of Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa, the trial which is brought against her in Belarus and which will open on Tuesday, January 17, in her absence. In an interview with AFP in Davos (Switzerland), the Belarusian opponent also described the Russian-Belarusian military maneuvers as a “bluff” aimed at diverting Ukrainian army forces from the front line of east of the country.
“These trials are not trials at all. It’s a spectacle, it’s a farce, it has nothing to do with justice,” denounced the opponent exiled in Lithuania and visiting Switzerland. “It’s a personal revenge of Lukashenko and his cronies, not only against me but also against his other opponents,” she said.
“High treason” and “conspiracy to seize power”
Faced with “a dozen charges”, including high treason and conspiracy to seize power, she said she contacted her court-appointed lawyer, but he never responded. “I don’t even know what my so-called lawyer will do tomorrow in this court, how he will defend me,” she said on Monday. “I don’t know how long this trial will last, how many days, but I’m sure they will sentence me to many, many years in prison,” she continued.
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The opponent also called the joint air force exercises organized on Monday between Russia and Belarus a “bluff” on the part of Mr. Lukashenko, who allowed Russia to use his territory to organize attacks against the Ukraine. “It’s a show for the people of Belarus, to threaten them, to tell them: look at the Russian army is there, so stay calm, don’t oppose anything,” she said.
The main objective, according to her, is to “divert the attention of Ukrainian soldiers from the hot spots in the east (of Ukraine) towards the border of Belarus” in the north. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who has claimed victory in Belarus’ disputed 2020 presidential election, said she was the first person from her country to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos since 1992, two years before Mr. Lukashenko.
“An appendage of Russia”
“It’s a great honor for us because for more than 30 years Belarus was like a black hole on the map of Europe: we were considered an appendage of Russia,” she said.
After the disputed 2020 presidential election, the Belarusian regime suppressed historic opposition protests with mass arrests, forced exiles and imprisonments of activists and journalists. According to the Belarusian human rights center Viasna, there are currently more than 1,400 political prisoners in this country.
Chain repression of opponents
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya’s husband, Sergei Tikhanovski, was arrested before the 2020 presidential election, prompting his wife to run for him in the election. He was sentenced in December 2021 to 18 years in prison. The Belarusian judicial authorities announced on Monday that they had also charged him with “insubordination” with regard to the prison administration, a charge punishable by two years of deprivation of liberty.
The same day began the closed trial of journalist Andrzej Poczobut, a figure of the Polish minority in Belarus, who faces a 12-year prison sentence. Earlier this month, Belarus began trying Ales Bialiatski, a Belarusian democracy activist and co-winner of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, founder of the Viasna Center. Mr. Bialiatski, who is imprisoned, risks with his collaborators up to 12 years in prison.
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Russian-Belarusian military air exercises also began Monday in Belarus, Minsk said, assuring that they were of a “defensive” nature. These maneuvers come as Moscow is trying to drag Minsk into its military action against Ukraine, according to many observers, with Belarus already serving as a rear base for Russian forces.