‘Ek Perform and Ek Sham’: Belarusi Opposition condemns the election

Svetlana Takhanovskaya refused to call what is happening in Belarus at the end of this week.

The exiled opposition leader says, “This is a sham.” “This is a military-style operation; a demonstration was staged by the regime to capture power.”

For three decades, the country has been headed by a rapidly powerful Alexander Lusashenko, now strongly supported by Vladimir Putin, who uses his neighbor in his full -scale invasion of Ukraine.

On this Sunday, Belarusians will once again see Lusashcheco’s name on the ballot paper, in which four other names were carefully chosen.

No independent supervisors are allowed.

Tight controls have made place because the last time Belarusis voted for a President, the country was swept away by huge protests.

In 2020, Alexander Luakshhenko allowed Svetlana Takhanovskaya to run against her, thinking that a political novice – and a woman – would have no effect.

It was a large -scale miscol.

Ankhanovskaya, who, after imprisoning Lusashenko, decided to stand at her husband’s place, claimed victory.

When Lusashenko was awarded 80% of the votes, the crowd took the biggest threat to the rule of Lusashenko. The protests were eventually crushed by the riot police with large -scale arrests and cruel force.

The European Union then refused to recognize the validity of Lakashnco as President.

Today, all the major opposition figures of this period are in jail or have fled abroad like Takhanovskaya. Former protesters in Belarus are still scared in silence.

Therefore, the opposition leader is not urging him to take him to the streets again on Sunday.

“We asks Belarusis to reject the result on this sham and international community,” she tells the BBC. “But I say to Belarusians, you have to keep safe for the real moment of possibility.

“Because people live in constant fear, and the regime is now intensifying repression.”

When you talk to Belarusis, you think there is a direct fear.

Many people do not want to talk publicly about politics. Other people ask you to change your name, then choose their words carefully.

Some still chat inside the Belarus only through encrypted messages that they immediately remove.

All say that open political activism in the country has been extinguished.

A non-profit organization, which helps in danger, reports an increase in application for about 30 or 40 requests in a month.

Since 2020, the group has vacated over 1,500 people.

It also supports former political prisoners who are trying to rebuild life in exile after their release.

For Yana Zurvleva, a vet, it is difficult.

She was dedicated to her work before 2020 and was not particularly politically active. But in that summer she joined the huge crowd, hoping for change.

He was later sentenced to three years for “gross violation of public system”.

“We will be punished for everything,” she misses her time in jail.

She calculates that 10 out of 10 women were there due to protests. Like him, Yana was added to the register of “extremism and destructive activity”.

“You can’t go to the sports hall, your letters are only from relatives and you get less right rights. If you complain that you always hear the same response: Remember what you are here,” he is me She states where she left after her recent release.

Yana admitted that it took the “Titanic” strength not to slide in deep depression.

“In jail, I cried hardly. But when I was out, I suddenly wanted to sleep all the time, and did not know why.”

Many people who contacted me have mentioned psychological help after inquiring, threatening or imprisoned.

They describe a security service that hunts anyone with the most relaxed link for the opposition, then demands the names of all those who keep it in custody.

The pressure never gave up.

A woman inside Belarus, who monitored human rights, tells me that she had to stop attending the court hearing as the authorities saw her.

If they can prove a link to the banned human rights organization Viana, they may be accused as a “extremist”.

“I can do some specific tasks of support, but I have to be careful,” he told me anonymously.

“When you see all this injustice, you have a very strong feeling of helplessness.”

Viana currently lists 1,256 political prisoners in Belarus. Dozens were recently given amnesties, but were replaced soon.

For those who avoid Belarus’ pressure-cup, there is an additional struggle to know that they cannot return for a long time.

That is why Natalia, not her real name, decided to stay in Belarus even after taking custody twice to participate in protests.

She explains, “When you are in the list of ‘repress’, you are very weak.”

“You can’t work because you are on the police data base and the authorities are always looking at you …”

For Natalia, which meant that his dog was being re -arrested, to walk his dog without a lead.

“She claimed that I have become aggressive and cursed loudly and waved her arms,” ​​she remembers, in her custody in 2023. He was kept on one light continuously, for two in one cell with 14 people for ten days.

For more than a week, she slept on a wooden floor.

“This really shook my sense of security, I became very worried,” Natalia accepted.

She is abroad for now and is planning to return her cats soon. But his neighbors say that a police officer visited his home before on Sunday, investigating all possible protesters.

Svetlana Takhanovskaya believes that the ongoing repression suggests that Lakhakhenko and their colleagues are afraid.

The opposition leader argues, “The 2020 shock is still alive and has to end any possibility of rebellion.”

“He knows that the Belarusians did not accept or forgive him, and they still want change.”

But she admits that there is little sign in the short term.

For a time after Russia’s full -scale invasion in Ukraine, Belarusis hoped that his neighbor Putin could be successful in defeating Putin with the Western help, and Lakashhenko would follow him.

Some people took themselves to the front line, after their peaceful protest, it failed to choose the force.

But Ukraine’s army is now struggling to catch the land and President Donald Trump is insisting on peace talks.

“The Democratic world cannot give concessions to Putin,” Takhanovskaya argues, description of Lusasheko is equally dangerous for the world.

He allowed Russia to launch missiles from Belarus in Ukraine and send his tanks through his territory.

They have allowed the polish border and free flow of migrants in the European Union.

“He allows Putin to deploy nuclear weapons and his army in Belarus, and this is a very small way to Poland and Lithuania,” Takhanovskaya describes.

“He and Putin are a pair, and they support other dictators. He is part of this series of evil.”

There is no doubt that the restoration of Alexander Luxhenko on Sunday will go according to his plan.

“They are very capable,” says former political prisoner Yana.

“He really crushed the ability to protest.”

She is now trying to return as a vet in her profession, but in Poland, and to recover from three hard years behind bars.

Those who had now talked that they were retiring Lushaneko, or eventually dying, as their biggest hope of seeing democracy.

Meanwhile, many people are switching focus: there is an increase of interest in reviving Belarusian culture and language, an anti -reason. It has the most courage in such circumstances.

“No one says this openly, but we think there is no possibility. There is depression,” Natalia believes.

But there is no clear regret, even.

Svetlana Takhanovskaya’s own life has changed dramatically as she was insisting in politics.

Cut-off from her country, her husband is also a political prisoner-it was kept in total isolation for almost two years.

The opposition leader insisted that she still “really believes” in change.

“There was a big innings in the mentality in 2020 Belarus. I don’t know how long it would take, but this innings will not disappear.”