The EU cannot but note the violations of human rights; however, it won’t make it a subject matter and aggravate its relations with the Belarusan regime in the current geopolitical situation.

The authorities have been capturing freelancers one by one and fining them for a year already. The head of the Legal Transformation Center (Lawtrend) Elena Tonkacheva is deported from the country. The military analyst of “Belorusy i rynok” newspaper Aliaksandr Alesin is put into KGB prison for “espionage”. The closer the president campaign is, the higher is the level of tension in the Belarusan society.

However, Aliaksandr Alesin’s arrest (or detention?) is a separate case — as until now we have no official confirmation regarding his stay in KGB prison.

What is hiding behind the enhanced pressure on the civil society? Is it the forthcoming presidential campaign that we should blame?

Uladzimir Matskevich, the head of the Board of the International Consortium “EuroBelarus”, answers the questions of EuroBelarus Information Service.

— KGB has arrested Aliaksandr Alesin, the military analyst of “Belorusy i rynok” newspaper. According to the unofficial information, he is suspected on espionage. The obvious version for his arrest arises: his arrest is an answer to the Lithuanian special agencies that discovered a Belarusian intelligence network in Lithuania.

— There is a specific logic in the work of the intelligence services. The actions of the intelligent services in one country often provoke responsive actions in the country whose interests are concerned without investigating whether the person is guilty or not. The exposure of the agent in one country almost always means that the diplomat of the country that has exposed the spy will be sent out.

Alesin’s arrest (or detention?) might be a responsive action, which means that he is a victim. In order to avoid that civil society should keep a watchful eye over the actions of the intelligent services, so that innocent people don’t become victims of spy games.

— For the whole week after the arrest everyone kept silent: relatives, colleagues, and KGB, though I can’t recollect any occasion when the victim of the KGB is let out three days after. Why is everyone silent?

— Silence deserves special attention. If the arrest didn’t happen spontaneously, if prerequisites for that were prepared in advance, the intelligent services might have intimidated the family and demanded an undertaking from the employer. This is the only reason to explain the silence: to do it in order not to cause any harm.

We are living in a close society where not only special services are classified but also there is a whole bunch of state secret structures. And such cases result not only from the close nature of the society.

A ten-day Alesin’s statutory retention period is finishing already today. I’m not sure that the special services will release Alesin; but if there is a chance that he will be released, his family, employer, and colleagues are using it.

— In 2014 more than 20 cases of persecution of freelancers happened; the head of the Legal Transformation Center (Lawtrend) Elena Tonkacheva is deported from Belarus, while Aliaksandr Alesin is put into the KGB prison for the assumed espionage. Are these separate events or parts of one succession?

— Let me be honest: we have no facts that would allow us to unite all the three events into one succession.

We can only guess about the reasons and simplify this situation to the banal repressions of the bloody regime. Of course, Alesin’s arrest is the consequence of the regime that we have in Belarus today.

However, I would consider this case separately without linking it to the start of the president election campaign, even though the repressions have really intensified. But if the arrests, detentions, and repressions stop for several months, it doesn’t mean that the regime has changed; and vice versa, the detentions and arrests shouldn’t be attributed to the strengthening of the regime.

We should consider each case in particular; it should become our moral principle, as every case involves a concrete person.

— However, you don’t leave out the possibility that all these events have been caused by the preparations to the president campaign.

— Even though I don’t leave it out, I wouldn’t stop with this explanation. There are a lot of journalists in our country; but it is separate people who suffer from repressions. It is ridiculous, if a respected journalist whose work has been in the focus of attention of the intelligence services for many years suddenly becomes a spy.

— The European Union gives no reaction to the violations of human rights in Belarus. Does it mean that Lukashenko’s regime is free and the war writes everything off? Is the Europe acting according to the principle “dictatorship is better then one more flashpoint if tension”?

— This way or another the EU is reacting to the facts of human rights’ violations.

However, the EU today doesn’t emphasize the violations. That is why the active enemies of the Belarusan regime, independent journalists, and reasonable people are in much bigger danger than at the time when political prisoners defined Minsk-Brussels relations. The EU cannot but note the violations of human rights; however, it won’t make it a subject matter of aggravation of relations with the Belarusan regime due to the pragmatic views and a new political doctrine.

Lukashenko is always trying to find out what can be forgiven and what’s not, even though there is a constant risk to go too far. But it isn’t becoming easier for us: political prisoners Lobau and Haidukou are subjected to repressions, freelancers are under constant danger as well, Alesin is being persecuted. Their fate depends not only on the reaction of the EU, but also on the position of the civil society.

The journalistic community is in a very complicated situation: it doesn’t want to harm its colleague, but it also cannot ignore it. Lukashenko has an army of analysts, special services who count the borders of the allowed, while the civil society has to do it separately. An attempt to institualize the civil society never found support among journalists before. No one can stand up for Alesin except for the Belarusan Association of Journalists (BAJ) that obviously doesn’t have enough strength to do it.

Civil society needs strength and structure that would be very powerful and strong and to give prompt and adequate reaction to such kind of challenges.