“Death squads” training goes on?
- 7.12.2009, 8:02
Yauhen Afnahel, one of the leaders of the civil campaign “European Belarus”, was kidnapped. Four oppositionists have been kidnapped and taken to wood during the last week.
As Afnahel told, he had been caught by four men in mufti in Belinski Street in Minsk in the evening on December 6. Afnahel was forced to get into a white car with tinted windows and taken out of town. According to the activist of “European Belarus”, the kidnapers didn’t talk anything. He was forced to sit with his head between his knees and was let me out on a country road some kilometres from Barysau highway, the website “European Belarus” reports.
“I had an arrangement near Luch watch plant at 4 p.m. The man I was to meet with was late. Two people in mufti came up to me, showed their militia certificates and asked me to show what I had in my bag. They didn’t find anything interesting for them and went away. Then a militiaman in uniform with a radio set appeared. I took a bus to Belinski Street. They caught me on a bus stop when I was leaving it. They forced me into a white car. There three men besides me in the car. We were driving around the town for 20 minutes. They made me bend my head in order I couldn’t look through the window. Then we got out of town, turned off the highway and drove about a kilometre. I was allowed to get out, they returned me a camera, but without a battery, telephones, one of them without a battery,” Yauhen Afnahel told.
Recently secret service officers abducted youth leaders Zmitser Dashkevich and Artur Finkevich, an activist of “European Belarus” civil campaign Uladzimir Lemesh. In all the cases the activists were abducted by unknown people in plainclothes, who however had police walkie-talkies. The young people were taken to the forest, threatened and demanded to stop political activities. Then the activists were taken away from Minsk for dozens of kilometers.
Earlier activists of “Young Front” Nasta Palazhanka and Dzyanis Karnou were kidnapped and taken out of the city. Despite of the fact that the young people applied the prosecutor’s office and even recognized one of the abductor on a photo from a newspaper (he was the commander of “Almaz” special squad Alyaksandr Leanenka), the authorities in fact deny to carry put investigation of the abductions.
Earlier, commenting on the abductions of the youth leaders to charter97.org website, “European Belarus” coordinator Andrei Sannikov stated that at the moment we observe training of death squads, who are practicing their methods on the young.
“Such impunity has become a result of the fact that cases of abducting public leaders and journalists are not investigated in Belarus. And Europeans prefer to turn a blind eye to that, although investigation of these cases was one of the demands for resuming relations with Lukashenka. It becomes more and more evident that the current regime in Belarus won’t cope with the economical, social, political challenges and would try to use the familiar methods: stepping up repressions against dissenters. As never before, we should show firmness and resolve, to be steadfast to our principles, to defend our rights and freedoms of citizens. It is a crime to kowtow to the regime that has overstepped the bounds of decency. We need solidarity. Lukashenka’s regime has unleashed the war against the people of Belarus, and it is to result in the collapse of the dictatorship inevitably,” the leader of “European Belarus” is convinced.