Marek Butko: West Will React To Blocking Charter-97

The talks about "liberalization" in Belarus are a complete nonsense.

Ex-secretary of the Polish Embassy in Belarus Marek Butko stated that to Charterar97.org:

– The blocking of Charter-97 is an element of Russia's policy, which it uses against Belarus and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The actions of the Belarusian authorities are unprecedented, the largest independent website has been blocked, which has a huge impact on public opinion in Belarus.

Thanks to the work of Сharter97.org, Belarusians did not feel such a strong influence of the Russian Internet. The blocking of Charter-97 is beneficial to the Kremlin. This is a piece of tragic news not only for democracy and human rights, but also from a strategic point of view.

Independent media in Belarus are in danger of complete isolation, which will lead to total domination of the Russian media. There can be sad consequences for the opposition, independent media and the ability of civil society to mobilize.

Polish authorities, European structures, human rights organizations will not leave this decision without reaction. We have not seen such a strong blow to civil society for a long time. If human rights mean something in Europe, there will be a tough reaction. I am surprised that in this situation we are still talking about some kind of "liberalization", a dialogue with Minsk, Lukashenka. This is complete nonsense and the Charter-97 blocking is proof of that.

Important to note, on January 24 the Lukashenka regime blocked the independent informational resource Charter97.org. First Deputy Minister of Information Ihar Lutski confirmed the fact of blocking.

The detailed instruction how to overcome the blocking of the website Charter97.org is available here.