MINSK, 1 July (BelTA) – We disrupted a provocation to burn down opposition representatives in Minsk in 2020 after the presidential election, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko told the media following the official part of his address at a solemn assembly held on 1 July in anticipation of Independence Day, BelTA has learned.
Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed that treatment was normal. In general, his inner position is that mistreatment is unacceptable. In this regard, he recalled an episode from back in the day when being deputy director of a building materials plant he had to deal with the convicts who did some jobs at the plant. He provided support to some if he thought their demands were fair. Once a riot happened in the prison where they were serving their time and Aleksandr Lukashenko was asked to step in and help to deal with the situation. It was the request of the prisoners.
This topic was raised in connection with the recent pardon of a number of convicts who subsequently left Belarus. The news about the pardon became known after Minsk hosted Trump’s special envoy Keith Kellogg who conveyed the request of U.S. President Donald Trump.
“Prisoners are treated normally. But prison is not a resort. We saw one person all tears recently [during a press conference abroad after his release]. Oh boy, he was crying indeed! We know where this theatrics came from. We know who prepped him during the night for the public event,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “I have to mention something. The Americans promised me: ‘You let them go; they will not pour dirt on you or the country, no one will speak in the media.’ Once the van carrying one of them [one of the pardoned persons] reached Lithuania, statements started pouring in the morning. We know how they were prepped at night: ‘Here you speak, here you shed a tear and lament about mistreatment in prison.’ One female journalist asked him the question: ‘Did you get beaten, tortured?’ Even the main opposition figure said: ‘Well, sometimes you got a push...’”
“Armored personnel carriers were already lined up near the prison. I came and we managed to calm people down within a few hours. I went there alone - a huge barracks filled with tobacco smoke, beds upside down. I picked up a stool to stand on for everyone to see me. There were several hundred people. I asked them about their issues and wrote them down. I openly said which one I could solve and which one I wouldn’t. They knew my honesty. I delivered on everything I promised. But I told them the condition: ‘You must put everything in order, otherwise things would be bad.’ So yes, there was such an episode in my life,” the head of state said. “I know these people well. I know how people suffer.”
Aleksandr Lukashenko spoke about the reasons to pardon this particular person: “He’s got kids, family, weeping wife. She has been weeping for five years since I helped her go abroad. We even gave her money. There is a man here (already a general) who took her abroad on my instructions. We acted in a humane way.”
Moreover, the president shared some shocking details about the provocation that could have happened in 2020 if he had not intervened: “If it had not been for the dictator Lukashenko, they would have been burned down in a house in a provocation. This ‘Lakhushkin’ guy is sitting pretty in Poland sharing his thoughts with the world. It was him who wanted to get them [a number of opposition members] together in a house in the center of Minsk and set it on fire. Thank God Svetlana Tikhanovskaya had a security detail [one of them used to work for the Ministry of Internal Affairs]. So this guy got this feeling that something was wrong and called the security forces. They reported to me. I instructed them to take the house under protection in a most public way. I took some Alfas (a special unit of the KGB) off the streets and sent them there to show that we knew and that we protected this house. The provocation failed. This is the first time I revealed the name of the guy who planned this. What was his purpose? To become one of the leaders of this whole vile opposition. They stooped that low.”
Follow us on:
