MINSK, 9 August (BelTA) – Director of the information and analysis institution Roundtable of Democratic Forces Yuri Voskresensky suggested the Belarus president should authorize the release from prison of about 100 people. Yuri Voskresensky said he would stake his head on that during a meeting of Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko with representatives of the general public, experts, and mass media titled as the Big Conversation with the President on 9 August, BelTA has learned.
The idea was initially mentioned when the Belarus president met with representatives of opposition political forces in a KGB pretrial detention facility in 2020. Aleksandr Lukashenko noted: “Everyone started saying we should consider releasing some. I am not bloodthirsty, I can grant a pardon, everything according to the law. Even [Sergei] Tikhanovsky [husband of the former presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya] appealed to me. I told him he should not contact me because his president was in Lithuania. Yuri Voskresensky was present during the meeting. It was decided that he would take care of the list. I told him then that he would have to stake his head on granting a pardon to these people. If some person – one out of a hundred in this case – misbehaves later on, Yuri Voskresensky would have to go to prison. He agreed. I read his letter today and no head was mentioned.”
Yuri Voskresensky stated publicly during the meeting on 9 August that he would stake his head in exchange for all the 100 people. Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “I didn't force you to say that. I've skimmed through this list. I know some of them. But it is not up to me now. It is up to the defense, security, and law enforcement officers that they have beaten and hit by cars. I cannot step over these guys, who are now disabled. It is up to [the TV reporter Grigory] Azarenok, who they wanted to kill. They've torn me apart. I lived only for my country and my people. I wanted things to get better. I am no corrupt official, I have no money they lie I have. I've spent virtually my entire life working for this country. And these scoundrels came out of nowhere. Well, my spine was not broken and I was not hit by a car. I didn't have to run away from them on broken legs. But I will never forget it. One day I will tell you what was going on then. Why I went to riot police. Why I took combat arms. Why my kid was with me, he went to protect me instead of attacking someone. I can forget what I lived through but I will never forgive.”
Aleksandr Lukashenko clarified he is accustomed to looking at things in detail. “I've studied these details and seen what kind of people they are. Nevertheless, I am ready to return to the start of our conversation. Including about [the former presidential candidate Viktor] Babariko. But when I think about bandits assaulting my guys with shivs… They are my children. They didn't betray me. If they had betrayed me when they were told I had flown to Rostov. Another piece of fake news. When I had to go out with an assault rifle and my kid, I was ready to fight alone. They didn't betray me. They applauded me at the barricades. And you [Yuri Voskresensky] want me to betray them for the sake of some scoundrel, a prisoner convicted according to 12 articles of the Criminal Code? Never. I will never betray these guys. I have not betrayed them and I have not made a single step that can make them think I've started wavering,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “This is why you have to rewrite this letter if you are ready for it. No? I will instruct the [pardon] commission to look at every person today.”
Yuri Voskresensky clarified that the pardon request mentions 93 people “who have gone astray”. Six people are bankers, who have reimbursed the damage and have cooperated with the investigators. One of them is a former head of the Mogilev philharmonic.
Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “I've promised I will look into it. We are not going to discuss this letter without you [Yuri Voskresensky]. You are the author and you will work as part of the commission. You will look at every person. We are talking about people's fates, I understand it. This is why we will get to the bottom of things. This is why I repeat it once again so that you would understand that those are no political prisoners. Those are people, who have broken the law. The law is harsh but it is the law.”
