‘Parasites Hunting’ Started In Shklou, Smarhon

The “letters of happiness” are sent all over Belarus.

The Shklou district executive committee started sending the locals letters demanding they should prove they are not “social parasites”. Those who fail to do this are promised to be invoiced for hot water under full-fledged tariffs. A local inhabitant sent such “letter of happiness” from the Shklou district executive committee to the Belsat editorial office.

A Smarhon resident also sent his “letter of happiness” to the editorial office of Belsat. In the letter, the Commission for Coordination of Work on Facilitating Employment of the Population summons him for a meeting to “help to find employment”.

Only an unemployed homeowner, or the payer, whose name is indicated in the utility bill will pay for water, gas and central heating under full tariffs. If an apartment is registered in the name of a working person, and an unemployed citizen is only domiciled there, they will not have to pay more for the communal and utility services.

One of the popular ways to bypass the decree is to re-legalize real estate in the name of a relative who works, or get domiciled in houses without the central heating and hot water (for instance, in a country-house).

Important to note, Belarusians working abroad automatically get listed as “parasites”. The lists will be compiled by the special commissions, which work with the personal data of Belarusians.

It was repeatedly stated that “parasites” will also pay for other services, subsidized by the state, and the “Belarusians not employed in the economy” were threatened with the labor and detox centers.

The previous version of the “decree on parasites” caused mass protests, which experts believe to be the most massive in Belarus since the perestroyka times.