Lukashenka Has a Horror of Iryna Khalip

The authorities prohibited the speech of the Belarusian journalist.

A well-known Belarusian journalist, a trustee of the candidate for deputy Iryna Khalip was refused to speak out on the state radio.

Iryna Khalip told Charter97.org about it

"Yesterday, the candidate for deputy from the European Belarus civil campaign, Aksana Yushkevich, several times specified in the district election commission whether she could delegate the right to me to speak on Radio Minsk.

We received several positive answers.

But when we came to Radio Minsk today, there was a lot of fuss and calls to the legal department of the Minsk City Executive Committee (Mingorsipolkom).

Mingorsipolkom finally replied: "Who? Iryna Khalip? She is the candidate herself and therefore has no right".

When I reminded them that I was not a candidate because I had not been registered, a representative of Mingorsipolkom said: "I will find you an article now".

And they found ... Article 46 of the Electoral Code, which says that "a candidate for deputy has the right to speak out on state radio or television".

It will be recalled that yesterday they repeatedly told us that the authorized representative of the candidate for deputies could take a speech as well.

Well, we still have televised debates".

As a result, Aksana Yushkevich spoke on the radio, but read the text of Iryna Khalip:

"Good afternoon!

I represent the European Belarus civil campaign and hate the dictatorship. The main thing we are longing for is a change of power at all levels, closure of the Belarusian NPP and return of fair elections.

So now let's put quotes around "candidate for deputy". Today Belarus has neither "deputies", nor "elections", nor "parliament". However, there is no "parliament" in Belarus.

There used to be a Parliament in Belarus. It was called the Supreme Soviet. Its life was short, but memorable - as long as 6 years. 23 years ago, on November 1996, Lukashenka realized that the parliament posed a deadly threat when the necessary number of deputies' signatures were collected for the impeachment of the "president". And he destroyed it. Together with it, he ruined the legislative power and the institution of elections.

Now we have only a bureau of registration of Lukashenka's decrees and orders - a personal office, which puts his ideas into laws and adopts them unanimously. Every four years the country holds another show called "elections to the House of Representatives" with songs, dances, beer in the cafeterias and total disregard on the part of people. This show is a curtain of smoke designed to show the world that we have a political process and elections in Belarus.

Don't believe it. We have no elections. For many years the existing authorities have been despising you, depriving you of the opportunity to choose. Your votes are sent directly from the ballot box to the garbage bin. Nobody cares about your votes. The authorities make this choice for you. They choose themselves, knowing that they will fail in fair elections. They do not need your votes, fair competition. The regime denies the very possibility of choice and participation of people in decision-making.

On November 17th, you're going to be deceived again. Don't believe them. They always lie both those who hold the highest positions and those who sit in the district commissions. They will never accept free elections because they are well aware that they will have to be liable for what they have done. The return of free elections can come only with the change of power at all levels.

However, the change of power may not be necessary, because there is no one change for. The Astravets NPP will be put into operation in a few months. It's an extremely hazardous facility in the northwest of the country.

Its construction was initiated with no reference project, no expertise, no public discussion. During the trial installation, the builders managed to drop the reactor vessel to the ground. At the construction site workers are dying from time to time.

It is caused by violation of safety standards and labour legislation. They work on a rotational basis, including crane operators and those who need to be focused on their work.

Can you imagine a crane operator working 12 hours a day, 12 days a week without a day off? Can you imagine the quality of his work? Even if he was a superman, he wouldn't be able to perform complex operations with such an intensity of work. The Belarusian NPP has a chance to be the safest nuclear power plant in the world only if it is never completed. Belarus has neither means, nor staff, nor technologies, nor experience of handling a nuclear facility. However, after Chernobyl, Belarus has seven thousand kilometers of resettlement zone and hundreds of dead villages in the south-east of the country. Now the same danger will come from the north-west. It's symmetrical, isn't it? That is why we demand to stop the construction and close the Belarusian NPP.

Of course, you may wonder why the representatives of European Belarus participate in elections if there is none. I answer you. Belarus ranks 153th out of possible 180th in the press freedom rating. Only Turkmenistan and North Korea are left behind. It means that there are not only no free elections in Belarus but also no free press. Independent newspapers have long been destroyed by the regime. The most famous independent website - Charter97 - is officially blocked in Belarus for the second year. We only have five minutes to speak out.

Do not believe the dictator and his accomplices. They lie, they don't care about the people. Only together we can change the power. Only together will we be able to return fair and free elections.

It's enough for the dictatorship. It's enough for the Belarusian NPP. It's enough for election frauds. Long Live Belarus!

The legal service of the European Belarus civil campaign reports that the Belarusian authorities and Radio Minsk flagrantly violate the Belarusian legislation, in particular, Article 76 of the Electoral Code, which allows the candidate's trusted persons to represent the interests of the candidate in relations with any state bodies.

"Trustees help the candidate during the election campaign, represent the interests of the candidate in relations with government agencies, public associations, voters, as well as in the commissions," Article 76 of the Election Code says.

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