Four months into the opposition protests in Belarus, the regime of Alexander Lukashenko appears resilient. Riot police, special forces units and even the army are all backing the dictator in his attempt to crush dissent at home.
Meanwhile, opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, exiled by the Belarusian regime, continues working to draw global attention to the Belarusian struggle.
In an online panel discussion with the Atlantic Council think tank, Tikhanovskaya urged the U.S. to impose harsh sanctions on those responsible for torturing Belarusian protesters.
“The sanctions must be expanded. Police involved in the crackdowns must be designated as terrorist organizations,” Tikhanovskaya said on Dec. 7.
Tikhanovskaya also called on Russia to withdraw its support for Lukashenko.
“The longer Moscow will support Lukashenko’s regime, the more it will lose credibility in the eyes of the Belarussian people,” Tikhanovskaya said, adding that she is open to dialogue with Russia.
Russia has played a crucial role in Lukashenko’s resistance to the protests, shoring up Belarus’ corruption-infested economy and lending propagandists to work on Belarus state television.
Earlier, Tikhanovskaya said that she wanted Russian President Vladimir Putin to be one of the mediators between the Belarusian opposition and Lukashenko.
“We want to present our point of view and hear Russia’s position regarding the situation in Belarus,” she said in a Nov. 28 interview with the Ukrainian branch of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Ongoing struggle
The protests in Belarus began on Aug. 9, after the country’s Central Election Commission announced that incumbent President Lukashenko had been re-elected to his sixth consecutive term.
Lukashenko took office after winning election in 1994. The international community has deemed all subsequent elections in the country neither free, nor fair.
According to state figures, Lukashenko received 80% of the vote in this year’s presidential race, while Tikhanovskaya took only 10%. But independent observers said that Tikhanovskaya had actually received the majority of the vote.
On Aug. 11, Tikhanovskaya was dragged to the Lithuanian border and forced out of the country.
Read More: Lukashenko falsifies election, declares war on Belarusians
After the fraudulent election, more than 100,000 people took to the streets in protest. Street protests continue to this day, with thousands of people turning out on Sundays to demand Lukashenko’s resignation.
The police have responded by violently cracking down on protesters, using tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades. After being detained, thousands of people reported torture in custody.
Tikhanovskaya told the Atlantic Council that protesters were beaten and tortured using electric wires.
“At least one rape case (in custody) was recorded,” she said.
Officially, six people were killed in acts of police brutality since Aug. 6. The last fatality was activist Roman Bondarenko, who was beaten to death by government-sponsored thugs outside his house when he asked them to stop clearing protest insignia from the fence.
Bondarenko’s death on Nov. 12 sparked a new wave of protests.
“Impunity won’t last forever. We intend to use these records of crimes in future investigations,” Tikhanovskaya said.
Since Aug. 9, over 30,000 people have been detained by the police. Most of them were soon freed or received 15 days of jail time for participating in the protests. However, opposition leaders, well-known activists and journalists remain behind bars.
Ukraine, the European Union and the United States don’t recognize Lukashenko as the legitimate president of Belarus.
However, the future of the protests looks bleak.
In an attempt to pacify protesters, Lukashenko announced his intention to rewrite the constitution, decreasing the powers held by the president, and dangled the idea of him potentially leaving office.
Tikhanovskaya doesn’t believe Lukashenko is sincere.
“Lukashenko won’t leave voluntarily. We’re talking about an autocrat who seized enormous power,” she said.
“People struggle, people suffer. There’s a need for international support,” she added.
