MINSK, 27 September (BelTA) – The issue of pardoning is a constitutional duty of the president, and this practice will be continued, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he met with students of the Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics in Minsk on 27 September, BelTA has learned.
The head of state was asked about three recently signed decrees on pardoning people convicted of extremist crimes. “Do you believe that they have repented? Are you going to continue doing this going forward?” one of the participants of the Q&A session asked.
“I will keep doing it. This is my job, it is a constitutional duty of the president to pardon people. We must fulfill our duties. Therefore, we will keep it up. As for the first part of your question, I hope so. Of course, some of them say that they repent, promise to mend their ways, to leave other people alone but then break their promises,” the president said.
Yet, Aleksandr Lukashenko believes in giving people a chance.
“I have a piece of advice for you that is based on my experience – stay in your country. We see these fugitives. They call my press secretary and plead: “Tell the president!” They write me letters: “We made a mistake, we want [to return]. I say: “Okay, we have a commission led by the prosecutor general. Apply to the commission, make your point. They all posed with white-red-white flags and so on. We have this. We have a whole archive. When they apply, we check what they did. They think that we do not know what they did,” the president said.
According to the head of state, everyone should explain the rationale behind their actions, because it can be anything. “It happens, as we say, that people just go bonkers, make mistakes. We are interested in them returning home. This is very important for me personally. But if they are guilty, they must be held to account in line with the law. Apply to the commission,” he said.
Speaking about pardoning about a hundred people, the president emphasized that no one pressured him to do it. “Nobody asked me to do it, it was not a matter of bargaining. We studied the issue. One [of the convicts] was sick. Kostusev is his name. He and Zenkovich were planning to shoot up the president's helicopter as it was landing, and so on. Why would he want to do it? He was diagnosed with cancer. Why keep him in prison? They released him. There are others there. There are sick people, and lame people. All kinds of them. Well, we released them. Purely for humanitarian reasons,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
The head of state remarked that many people, especially young people, did not get a grasp on the situation and just jumped on the bandwagon. “It's one thing to be in the crowd, and another thing to commit a criminal offense. We are sorting this out as we are trying to bring them back. Yet, those who have done really bad things will not return. And thanks to Yuri Zenkovich, who revealed how they had planned this coup. They had even planned who would do what and in what regions, and in the center. He said: “I was responsible for legislative matters, for appointing people to the KGB and elsewhere,” the head of state said.
Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that the money the West gives Belarusian exiles and the opposition is spent by the top brass and does not reach the rest: “The money is channeled through them, and they spend it. And these, I call them poor fellows running to the West, have no money.” As a result, these people who fled to Poland, for example, have to settle for lowest-paying jobs, like washing dishes.
“That's why I say: don't get carried away and never rush. Be patient. Give yourself time. That's exactly what you have to do. Never rush anywhere. Never. Yes, you have to move fast, but don't hurry. Tread cautiously. Think twice, double check, get together and share your thoughts with each other. Get anchored to your land,” the president added.
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