Belarusian Oppositionists Reckon Miasnikovich As Swindler, Usurper

Leaders of the Belarusian democratic forces commented on the upcoming visit of Mikhail Miasnikovich to Poland.

An official visit to Poland of the Belarusian “parliamentary delegation” headed by Chairman of the “council of republic” Mikhail Miasnikovich, is scheduled to take place on February 11-14.

Meetings with Polish President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki are planned in Warsaw. Also, there will be the negotiations between Miasnikovich and Head of Senate (Marshal) Stanisław Karczewski and Marshal of the Seym Marek Kuchciński. Apart from this, there will also be a meeting with Poland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Jacek Czaputowicz.

Important to note, international observers recognized that the “parliamentary elections” in Belarus in 2016 were held with numerous violations and falsifications.

Belarusian politicians, human rights defenders commented upon the situation with the visit of the representativeas of the illegitimate “parliament” to Poland, for Charter97.org.

Ales Bialiatski, head of the human rights center “Viasna”, former political prisoner:

- The legitimacy of the so-called parliamentary delegation headed by Miasnikovich raises many questions. The latest “parliamentary elections” were undemocratic, and this was recognized by both the international observing mission and domestic observers inside Belarus.

Even taking into account the very structure of the “elections” of the “council of republic”, which is not elected directly but is partly elected by the regional “councils of deputies”, and partially appointed by Lukashenka, the legitimacy of this body causes great doubt.

Apart from this, the situation with human rights in Belarus has not significantly changed lately: all the problems have remained. The year 2018 confirmed this. Criminal cases were started against independent journalists, leaders of the independent trade union REP, director of the BelaPAN news agency Ales Lipay. This shows that criminal persecution of civil activists and independent journalists in Belarus continues.

We can also add the problem of the death penalty here, as well as the problem of non-registration of civil organizations and political parties.

We, the Belarusian human rights defenders, are saying it out loud: the situation with human rights in our country is not changing, it remains rather bad. Thus, I believe that making such advances to the Belarusian senators is just not correct. These people are illegitimate, while raising their status at the meetings of such level legitimizes them.

All this causes great concern. Because they start contacts and cooperation with those who continue to violate human rights in Belarus and are not going to change anything for the better here.

Yury Hubarevich, Chairman of the movement “For Freedom”:

- I believe that this is humiliation for the Polish politicians - to meet with the people who are not elected at free democratic elections, but appointed by the current ruler of Belarus to perform the duties of “parliamentarians ”.

In contrast to the Polish colleagues, who took their place in the Polish Sejm thanks to an open struggle for votes, Belarusian “deputies” are not elected, but appointed. Their role is reduced to the role of scenery in the system of the state administration of Belarus. They are not even able to formulate and make decisions in the body where they are assigned or sent to work.

At the same time, I am not against the expansion of relations between the official parties of the Republic of Poland and the Republic of Belarus. But here we must talk about contacts at the executive level, where everything is clear and there are those responsible for making decisions in certain areas. There are, for example, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Economy, the National Bank...

I think that such contacts would contribute to greater openness of Belarus for the European Union, a better level of cooperation, which, in turn, would save us from the total dependence that we have in the framework of the alliance with Russia. The door for Belarus should be opened, but it is necessary to act at the level where there are people responsible for making decisions.

Mikalai Statkevich, Chairman of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Narodnaya Hramada), one of the leaders of the belarusian national Congress, former political prisoner:

- I would like to remind that the Polish government recognized Juan Guaydo as a legitimate President of Venezuela, because Nicolás Maduro had lost legitimacy over the results of the falsified elections. In Belarus, we are witnessing an identical case: Lukashenka and his “parliament” have lost legitimacy irrevocably, long ago. Herein, Lukashenka did it, having committed a severe crime by prolonging own powers anti-constitutionally at the “referendum” in 1996.

Only one explanation comes to my mind here – double standards. It’s a shame our Polish neigbors act this way.

Pavel Seviarynets, Co-Chairman of the steering committee for creating the Belarusian Christian Democracy party, former political prisoner:

- It just doesn’t fit in my head – how can decent people, elected by the nation, can officially, on equal terms, meet with swindlers and usurpers?

How can decent people pretend there is “parliament” in Belarus?

Why do the leaders of the Polish state sink to the level of those who openly and insolently falsify elections? I just don’t understand this.

Europeans do not recognize Nicolás Maduro a President of Venezuela. However, even in Venezuela they count votes, and the opposition can win parliamentary elections. In Belarus, no one counts votes, there is deception everywhere. Why playing shell game with swindlers?

Dzmitry Bandarenka, coordinator of the European Belarus civil campaign, former political prisoner:

- Poland rotates different approaches with regard to the Belarusian dictatorial regime. This policy can be called the stick and carrot method, or, as Poles say, the method of “kija i marchewki”. For example, in 2005-2007 the then ruling party Prawo i Sprawiedliwość

of Lech Kaczyński practiced a firm stance of supporting the democratic forces in Belarus.

Institutional decisions were taken to support the civil society in Belarus. This is the Kalinowski program for repressed students and family members of repressed politicians. At the same time, the television channel Belsat began its work, it was decided to provide assistance to Belarusian human rights organizations.

Now, in my opinion, Poland is repeating the policy of “careful friendship with the dictator”, which was conducted in 2008-2010 by the Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski. And we know how this policy ended.

I would like to tell the Polish friends that the dictator Lukashenka named the long-range salvo fire systems, which were developed jointly with the Chinese military, “Polonaises” not because he had warm feelings for Poland and the Poles.

***

If you like this article, you can support the website Charter97.org:

DONATION VIA PAYPAL:

MULTI-CURRENCY ACCOUNT FOR ASSISTANCE:

Bank's name: Bank Millennium S.A.

Address: ul. Stanislawa Zaryna, 2A, 02-593, Warszawa

IBAN: PL 97 1160 2202 0000 0002 1671 1123

SWIFT: BIGBPLPW

Name of the account holder: Fundacja “KARTA ‘97”

Purpose/title of payment: Donation for statuary aims

You can contact us by the e-mail [email protected]