‘I Don’t Need Your Orders If It Comes To Defending Belarus’

How a Belarusian teenager put ideologists in their proper place.

On January 23, youth activist Arsen Dziadok was found “guilty of participating in an action against integration with Russia” by the commission on juvenile affairs of the Savetski district of Minsk. The commission also issued a warning to him. How the procedure goes, where they “try” for politics and fear it at the same time - in the report belsat.eu.

17-year-old Arsen Dziadok came to a meeting with his father Aliaksandr, who supports the position of his son and therefore allowed journalists to attend and record everything that happened. Arsen is also represented by lawyer Vadzim Mushynski.

On January 23, the commission considered 4 administrative protocols drawn up by policemen with regard to the activist: for speaking at the meeting of subscribers of the NEXTA blogger on November 8 in the Freedom Square, for calling to come to the next rally on November 15, which Arsen allegedly voiced; and for participating in two street protests against deepening integration with Russia - on December 7 and 8. Under all four protocols, Arsen pleaded not guilty.

Back in time

At the entrance to the premises in the Independence Avenue, where the commission is located, a strange social advertisement catches your eye. Particularly noteworthy is the poster in defense of the rights of the child, which says that a child has a “right to participate in the society” and to “preserve self-esteem.”

It seems that the last time the interior here was updated long before the birth of Arsen. Rubbed folding chairs in a dark and cramped corridor, on the walls are Soviet bas-reliefs with slogans about the “friendship of peoples.”

“It’s 2020 outside, and you come here - and find yourself right at the beginning of the 80s!” the guy smiles.

“Dziadok!” comes from an ajar door. 9 people are sitting at a long table: methodologists, social educators, and officials from the Savetski District Education Department. The presidium includes Aksana Lasitskaya, deputy chair of the Savetski district juvenile commission, and a uniformed policeman, head of the juvenile inspection, Ivan Katzeba. Lilia Biareishyk, Deputy Dean for Academic and Educational Work, came from the Faculty of History of the BSU, where Arsen is a 1st year student.

The banned permitted picket

In the beginning, Dziadok requested that the process should be conducted in Belarusian. The chairman of the commission asked if he does not understand Russian at all, and in what language he is getting education.

“At our faculty, teaching is conducted in both Russian and Belarusian. Dziadok studies in the Belarusian-language group, and since we have two state languages, this is not a problem,” Biareishyk noted.

Later, the chairperson of the commission will have to apologize for her Belarusian, as from time to time she made mistakes. Lasitskaya forbade everyone to make photos, videos and even audio recordings, except for the policeman.

According to the first protocol, Dziadok allegedly violated the procedure for picketing and participated in the action, which “was not related to the election campaign”. Wew remind, about 200 people came to the rally in the Freedom Square in Minsk on November 8 - it was a meeting of bloggers that was formally held as part of the picket of the “deputy” of the “House of Representatives” of the Belarusian Popular Front Party Alena Talstaya, permitted by the law. It follows from the protocol that Dziadok “expressed his attitude to the results of future elections” and “shouted out the slogan“ Long live Belarus! ” It is noteworthy that in the reports the police write this slogan with mistakes.

As a material evidence of the offense, the commission demonstrated a video filmed by field investigators during the rally. On it, Dziadok says the following:

“I would like to say that during this election campaign and in the coming years, the main task is to be together, support each other and defend the independence of Belarus! Belarus lives! Therefore, I urge everyone to join the campaigns to support the independence of Belarus, to remember that we are Belarusians, we are a nation and we will win! ”

The women at the table whisper and nod their heads in dismay.

- Tell me, please, how does an officially authorized picket turn into an unauthorized event? - Arsen’s father asked the commission members.

“You know during which period of time you can picket, and you know how to apply for an official permit,” the chairperson answered. Then she turned to Arsen:

- Did you purposefully go there or accidentally get lost?

Arsen draws attention to the fact that at the same time pickets of pro-government candidates from Belaya Rus took place in the Freedom Square, but this is “not the subject of consideration”. After a few minutes of discussion, during which Dziadok and his father proved that permission to picket during the election campaign was not needed, which means that the action was legal, Lasitskaya agreed to postpone the consideration of the protocol.

By that time, the commission is going to request from the Minsk City Executive Committee a document that will confirm that the pickets in that place were indeed allowed.

With a pencil across the report

However, the police did not stop on recording Dziadok’s speech on November 8, and drew up another protocol under Part 1 of Article 23.34 of the Code of Administrative Offenses - for the “public call” to the action on November 15. The quote from Arseni, which was qualified as a call, was discovered by senior lieutenant Andrei Prykhodzka during the monitoring of the Charter ’97 website.

- And why did the police officer go to a website blocked in Belarus, and start monitoring it? - the “defendant” notes.

It is interesting that the policeman Prykhodzka sent the report to the authorities immediately, but in the upper right corner of the document Major Nikitsina marked with a pencil with three exclamation points: “The hearing should be held after the election !!!”

According to both this protocol and the next one, Dziadok does not admit guilt, and the evidence of the commission is obviously not enough. Consideration is postponed till January 27.

When Arsen tried to express his opinion on integration, the chairperson of the commission interrupted: “We are not going down to the field of politics discussion!”

“Destruction of everything young”

The fourth protocol concerned Dziadok’s participation in the action on December 8. Most of all, the chairperson of the commission was outraged that there was no permit of the Minsk City Executive Committee to hold the action.

“It surprises me, like everyone here who has children, why the people who organized this did not inform you in advance that you would nevertheless participate in an event that is unauthorized, and for which Article 23.34 of the Code of Administrative Offenses exists,” says Aksana Lasitskaya.

- I will say honestly: I knew this and went there purposefully. If comes to defending Belarus, including with weapons in hand, I will not need an order from you, or from anyone else,” the guy saids. Sleepy ideologists at the table raised their eyes from the phones.

After a brief closed-door meeting, the commission found Arsen Dziadok guilty of violating Article 23.34 of the Code of Administrative Offenses. Given the positive response from the university, he received an official warning.

“The case is clearly political. This is the destruction of all young, all living. I do not know these people in the commission, but I think they voted as they were told. This is horror, ” said Aliaksandr Dziadok at the end of the meeting.

“All this resembles a meeting of the Komsomol from history. Women with hair combed high are sitting there, and it is obviously difficult for them, the end of the working day. But it is also clear that they willingly send cases for revision, and are not very willing to consider them, ”Arsen Dziadok commented on the decision. He added that he plans to appeal it soon.

“We have come to show that the Belarusian youth exists. And we showed it. We also showed that Belarus is tired. Tired of the fact that there has been no change in the country for 25 years. We have not been able to influence the fate of our country for a quarter of a century! ” says Arsen. After that, the activist added that Lukashenka is going to run for the seventh term, but the new generation is against him, therefore, “we must act boldly and decisively.”