2020–2021 Belarusian Protests

The 2020–2021 Belarusian protests were a series of mass political demonstrations and protests against the Belarusian government and President Alexander Lukashenko. The largest anti-government protests in the history of Belarus, the demonstrations began in the lead-up to and during the 2020 presidential election, in which Lukashenko sought his sixth term in office. In response to the demonstrations, a number of relatively small pro-government rallies were held.

The protests intensified nationwide after the official election results were announced on the night of 9 August, in which Lukashenko was declared the winner. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the main opponent of Lukashenko, rejected the results as falsified and claimed instead to have received 60–70% of the votes. On 14 August, she announced the creation of the Coordination Council, with membership applications open to all Belarusians who agreed that the official election had been falsified.

On 23 September, Belarusian state media announced that Lukashenko had been inaugurated for another five-year term in a brief ceremony which was held privately. The following day, the EU published a statement that rejected the legitimacy of the election, called for new elections, and condemned the repression and violence against the protesters.

The protesters faced violent persecution by the authorities. A statement by the United Nations Human Rights Office on 1 September cited more than 450 documented cases of torture and ill-treatment of detainees, as well as reports of sexual abuse and rape. At the end of 2020, the Viasna Human Rights center documented 1,000 testimonies of torture victims.

Background

Alexander Lukashenko has been the head of state of Belarus since 1994, and did not have a serious challenger in the previous five elections, resulting in being referred to as "Europe's last dictator" by media outlets. Under his authoritarian rule, the government has frequently repressed the opposition.

Lukashenko had faced greater public opposition amid his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, which Lukashenko had denied as a serious threat. Of the five elections won by Lukashenko, only the first one in 1994 was credibly deemed free and fair by international monitors.

Before the election

The protests, nicknamed the ''Slipper Revolution'' and the ''Anti-Cockroach Revolution'', were initiated by businessman and blogger Sergei Tikhanovsky when he made a reference to the children's poem '' The Monster Cockroach'' () by Korney Chukovsky.

The original story, published in 1923, concerns a dictatorial yet fragile insect and his brief, chaotic reign of terror over all the other animals. It has been compared to ''The Emperor's New Clothes''. In his reference, Tikhanovsky compared Lukashenko to the cockroach in the story. In the original poem, the cockroach is eventually eaten by a sparrow; Tikhanovsky refers to a slipper signifying stamping on the cockroach.

Tikhanovsky traveled across Belarus and streamed interviews with random people on his YouTube channel ''Country for life'' (). Most of his respondents expressed disagreement with Lukashenko and the current government.

Tikhanovsky was detained in late May 2020 by Belarusian authorities, and was formally accused of being a foreign agent. In June 2020, street protests against Lukashenko took place. Several opposition candidates were registered for the 2020 Belarusian presidential election, but many of them were arrested.

During an interview, Lukashenko claimed that the opposition protests were a part of a plot orchestrated by foreigners, whom he suggested might be Americans, NATO members, Russians, or even Ukrainians. On 19 June, Lukashenko announced that he had "foiled a coup attempt", resulting in the arrest of main opposition rival Viktar Babaryka. According to CNN, Babaryka stated that the charges of bribery and corruption were falsified and the arrest was politically motivated to stop him from winning the presidential election.

When Babaryka was detained by authorities, people began walking in the streets to show their disapproval. Opposition activists, protesters, journalists, and bloggers were arrested as part of the crackdown. The human rights group Viasna estimated that around 1,300 people had been detained for protesting between early May and early August.

Tikhanovsky's wife Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya registered as a candidate in the election after the arrest of Babaryka. Lukashenko insisted the country was not ready for a woman to become president. Unregistered candidate Valery Tsepkalo's wife Veronika Tsepkalo announced that she and Maria Kalesnikava, head of Babaryka's presidential campaign staff, would join Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya's campaign and provide support.

The protests led to questions of how long the crisis may last, and whether it would escalate into violence, possibly evolving into a full revolution, akin to how the Euromaidan protests turned into a revolution in Ukraine in 2014. The German Marshall Fund, a US think tank, noted that the protests were more widespread, and more brutally repressed than previous protests in Belarus.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) reported that it would not be monitoring the 2020 election as it wasn't invited to do so. This was the first time since 2001 that the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) did not monitor elections in Belarus. The OSCE has not recognized any elections in Belarus as free and fair since 1995, and the government has obstructed past OSCE election-monitoring missions in the country.

May protests

On 24 May, hundreds protested against president Alexander Lukashenko and his decision to run for the 2020 Belarusian presidential election. Anti-government protesters held slippers as a sign of protest against the regime. Rallies and demonstrations continued strongly throughout May and June. On 27 May, protesters marched throughout the country and clashed with police. Slippers were pelted at the police and chants such as "You Cockroach" and "Resign you Rat" were heard. Elderly women and men protested daily until the elections. Balaclava-wearing police were then seen arresting popular YouTuber Sergei Tikhanovsky.

June–July

As protests drew more and more crowds, police began to use harsher tactics. During demonstrations demanding the release of prisoners and the resignation of the government on 2 and 3 June, police arrested and used pepper spray on demonstrators to disperse them. 5,000 protesters then rallied in Minsk from 5–7 June to demand the resignation of the government and president Alexander Lukashenko. Daily demonstrations continued despite heavy rain. Students, workers, teachers, and others protested for weeks until 6 August. Tear gas and rubber bullets were fired at protesters as they threw slippers.

Presidential campaign

On 29 July, 33 alleged mercenaries from the Wagner Group, a Russian private military company, were arrested in a sanatorium near Minsk. Lukashenko accused Russia of lying about the arrested "mercenaries", saying "So far there is no open warfare, no shooting, the trigger has not yet been pulled, but an attempt to organize a massacre in the center of Minsk is already obvious." Belarusian authorities claimed that Tikhanovsky was working with Russians to destabilize Belarus. All but one of the mercenaries, who is a Belarusian national and remains in custody, were deported to Russia on 14 August despite a request from Ukraine for their extradition.

On 30 July, a permitted rally of presidential candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya took place in the Friendship of Peoples Park in Minsk. According to human rights activists, 63,000–70,000 people gathered, but a statement from the Belarusian Interior Ministry alleged that only 18,250 people had been recorded passing through the metal-detecting checkpoints set up at the event.

On 6 August an estimated 5,000 peaceful protesters took to the streets in Minsk, waving white ribbons, calling for free and fair elections.

Election day

On 9 August, all roads and entry points to Minsk were blocked by the police and army early in the morning.

In the middle of the day, the Internet in Belarus was partially blocked. Government officials claimed that the reason was a heavy denial-of-service attack originating from outside Belarus. However, independent IT specialists claimed that the Belarusian state Internet monopoly Beltelecom and affiliated state agencies deliberately used deep packet inspection (DPI) technology or traffic shaping, and that issues with the filtering equipment used may have been the cause. Telegram was the only working instant messaging application.

In the evening of the election day immediately after the close of polling stations, the Belarusian government-sponsored TV aired exit poll results showing a supposed landslide with Lukashenko receiving 80.23% of the votes, and Tsikhanouskaya receiving 9.9%. The landslide was so great that even pro-government parts of the Belarusian population found that it was unlikely to be true. This caused an immediate reaction by supporters of Tsikhanouskaya to head to the streets in all major cities in Belarus, such as Brest, Minsk, Viciebsk, Hrodna, Mazyr, Pinsk, Homel, and Babruisk. Protesters were expressing their dissatisfaction and were calling for a fair count of votes. Protests started as peaceful in the middle of the night, but in Minsk, the situation escalated into violence between protesters and authorities. Protesters started building barricades to block traffic on the streets. The number of protesters in Minsk could not be measured as they were not concentrated in a single spot.

At night, after breaking up big crowds, police officers chased smaller groups of protesters through downtown Minsk for several hours. A fight against security forces and police continued in the major cities of Belarus. Law enforcement officers used police batons, rubber bullets (fired from shotguns), grenades with lead balls, water cannons, tear gas, and stun grenades. They used them to suppress the protests as people were chased in the suburbs all night. In Brest, protesters gradually dispersed, leaving a crowd of 200–300 from an estimated previous total of 5,000. That night in Minsk, security forces dropped grenades near people, and leaving some with critical injuries.

People were reported to be arrested while waiting for the election results near their polling stations. In Minsk, a 73-year-old man with a daughter and grandchildren were arrested with nearly 20 other people who gathered near the 86th school after the closure of the polling station. It was reported that they were sentenced to 10 and 25 days in jail. In Baranavichy, two Roman Catholic priests were arrested among others; they were waiting for the results near their polling station.

Timeline

Coordination Council and National Anti-Crisis Management

On 14 August 2020, in a video in which Tsikhanouskaya claimed that she had received 6070% of the vote, she announced the creation of the Coordination Council for the Transfer of Power.

Tsikhanouskaya stated that the council should be made of "civil society activists, respected Belarusians and professionals" to handle the transfer of power from Lukashenko. Applications for membership of the transitional council were open to any Belarusian citizen who recognised the election as having been falsified, and who was in a position of social trust such as a doctor, a teacher, a business leader, an author, or a sportsperson.

On 17 August 2020, Tsikhanouskaya released a video in which she stated that she was ready to lead a transitional government and to organise a new, free, and fair presidential election. A list of members was circulated on and included Nobel Prize laureate Svetlana Alexievich. The first meeting of the Council took place on 18 August 2020 and its leadership was elected the following day.

Lukashenko decried the creation of the council as an 'attempt to seize power' and promised "appropriate measures". On 20 August 2020, the chief prosecutor launched a criminal case against the council, calling it unconstitutional.

United States Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, in a statement urged the Belarusian government to actively engage Belarusian society, including through the newly established Coordination Council, "in a way that reflects what the Belarusian people are demanding, for the sake of Belarus’ future, and for a successful Belarus."

Dmitry Peskov welcomed the fact that the leadership of the Coordination Council did not want to reduce their ties with Russia and instead hoped to continue with good bilateral relationships between the two countries.

On 17 September 2020, the European Parliament recognized the coordination council as the "interim representation of the people" of Belarus.

In late October 2020, the Coordination Council created a shadow government, called '' National Anti-Crisis Management'' (NAM), for organising the detailed administrative tasks for a peaceful transfer of power to a fairly and freely elected president. NAM is led by Pavel Latushko and states that it will lose its powers when a new president is inaugurated. In November 2020, NAM published internal reports from the Belarusian Ministry of Internal Affairs showing that 4000 complaints for torture and other illegal actions by security forces had been submitted between 9 August 2020 and but all had been ignored by the ministry.

Deaths

On 10 August, a protester, Alexander Taraikovsky, died near Pushkinskaya metro station. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the protester tried to throw an explosive device at the government troopers and it exploded in his arms.В Минске при взрыве погиб демонстрант
''Deutsche Welle''. Retrieved 15 August 2020. However, some doubts in the circumstances of the death of the 34-year-old man were expressed. It was reported that a massive blood loss due to an open chest wound was recorded in a death certificate.В Минске попрощались с погибшим на протестах на «Пушкинской» Александром Тарайковским
. '' Tut.by''. Retrieved 15 August 2020. A video was published on 15 August that showed the protester empty handed and while being shot at by police. On 15 August, the Associated Press published a single frame from a video made on 10 August. It showed a man in a white shirt that looked similar to Taraikovsky and that was staggering unsteadily with a big red spot on his chest. No further commentary from the Ministry of Internal Affairs followed, however, according to the Belarusian Investigative Committee, as of 15 August 2020, the circumstances of the Taraikovsky's death were under investigation.Опровергает версию МВД. AP опубликовало кадр из видео с гибелью Александра Тарайковского на «Пушкинской»
. '' Tut.by''. Retrieved 15 August 2020. Elena German, the wife of Taraikovsky, saw the body in the morgue and reported that there were no injuries to his hands, but there was a small hole in his chest, consistent with a bullet hole. On 15 August, thousands of people gathered at the funeral in Minsk.

On 12 August, 25-year-old Alexander Vikhor died in Homel. He is believed to have had a heart-related disease. According to preliminary information, he died due to waiting in a security forces detainee van for several hours in hot weather. He was in the van because the city's temporary detention centers were overcrowded. Vikhor was sentenced to 10 days in prison, but it was reported that he didn't receive proper medical attention in time.

Also on or around 12 August, 28-year-old Nikita Krivtsov went missing. His body was found on 22 August near Minsk. Krivtsov was a fan of FC Maladzyechna, whose home ground is in the city of Maladzyechna. On 9 August, the day of the election, there was a peaceful protest in Maladzyechna against the official election result. Photographs show Krivtsov at the front of the protest, carrying a white-red-white flag, confronting a line of police. A friend stated that Krivtsov phoned him on 10 August, stating that he was in Minsk and had nearly been arrested by riot police. The friend said Krivtsov phoned him again on 11 August saying that he spent much of the day in a bar. On 12 August, the friend tried phoning Krivtsov but got no answer, which he said was out of character. Another report suggests that on 12 August, Krivtsov was in the city of Zhodzina, where his estranged wife lives with their five-year-old daughter, and that he left Zhodzina to go to the village of Karaliou Stan, where he worked, but he never arrived. On 22 August a watchman found Krivtsov's body in a forest near Minsk. The body was hanging by the neck, but its feet were on the ground. The condition of the body suggested that Krivtsov had been dead for about a week. Police claim that Krivtsov committed suicide, but his family stated that they didn't believe them.

On 15 August, 29-year-old Konstantin Shishmakov ( Belarusian: Kanstantsin Shyshmakou), director of the Bagration Military History Museum in Vaukavysk, disappeared. As a member of the election commission, he refused to sign the protocols, called his wife at about 5 pm and said: "I will not work here anymore, I am going home." Shishmakov was later found dead in a river. This was announced by the search and rescue squad "Angel".

On 17 August, the human rights advocates from the Belarusian education and social association "Zvyano" ("Link") issued a report, which said that at least five people had been murdered during the protests, and seven people were in critical medical condition.

On 19 August, 43-year-old Hienadz Shutau died in the Minsk military hospital after he had received gunshot wounds in the head during the 11 August protests in Brest. It was reported that the shot may have been fired by the police. MediaZona later released footage from a security camera, showing the official version a lie, and Shutau in effect being murdered from behind without warning.

On 3 October, Denis Kuznetsov, a 41-year-old male who was detained on 29 September, died in an intensive care unit after being transported there from Akrestsina. According to Kuznetsov's relatives and his medical history, during transportation to the hospital, he informed the medics that he was beaten by the Akrestsina staff, who, in turn, claimed that Kuznetsov "fell from the top of a bunk bed". The Kuznetsov's clinical diagnosis, among other things, included moderate traumatic brain injury, numerous hematomas, basilar skull fracture, subarachnoid hemorrhage, and fractures of 11 right ribs. In a further comment by the Belarusian Ministry of Internal Affairs, it was reported that results of the preliminary investigation supported the version presented by the Akrestsina staff.

On 11 November, Raman Bandarenka, a 31-year-old Minsk resident, a manager and an art-designer, was attacked and kidnapped from his yard in The Square of Changes. After some time, an ambulance was called to the Central District Department of Internal Affairs, which found Bandarenka unconscious. He was admitted to the intensive care unit of the Minsk BHMP (Minsk City Emergency Hospital) on 12 November 2020 at 00:05, where he was diagnosed with a severe closed traumatic brain injury, the acute subdural hematomas of the head, cerebral hemorrhage, and multiple soft tissue injuries. He was in a coma and underwent surgery, but medics were unable to save Bandarenka due to his serious condition. Bandarenka died on the evening of 12 November 2020.

The authorities and leaders of the Ministry of Internal Affairs never claimed that people died at the hands of police representatives.

Human rights issues

According to numerous publications, the suppression of the 2020 Belarusian protests was accompanied by extreme police violence, and systematic violation of human rights throughout stages of the detention process.

On 14 August, the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) issued a statement that condemned the arbitrary detainment and torture of protesters across Belarus following the election. According to the statement, such actions suggested crimes against humanity. The statement also called for an unbiased worldwide investigation into the "systematic and extremely violent oppression" of peaceful protests in Belarus.

On 19 August, the classification of these events as crimes against humanity, in accordance with the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, was supported in a Human Rights Foundation (HRF) statement. According to the statement, HRF identified fifteen persons from the Belarusian state apparatus who were responsible for the arbitrary detention, beating, and torture of thousands of peaceful protesters. Letters informing these persons of imminent criminal prosecution for crimes against humanity were sent to each of them on 17 August.

On 17 August, the human rights advocates from the Belarusian education and social association "Zvyano" ("Link") issued the "Report on the violation of human rights of the participants in the protests in Belarus from 7 to 14 August 2020", based on interviews with 30 victims of the police abuse, as well as on interviews with doctors of several Minsk hospitals. Some of the cases were supported by audio or video evidence. On that same day, a statement to the Prosecutor General's Office of Belarus with request to perform an investigation of the police' actions on the basis of 16 articles of Criminal Code of Belarus, including murder, torture, and rape, was issued by Viktar Babaryka's electoral campaign manager, Maria Kalesnikava.

The numerous human rights violations were corroborated and condemned by a number of former or current Belarusian police officers, such as Sergei Mikhasev, former employee of the Viciebsk police department, who was detained along with other protesters and spent several days in a detention center, and Yuri Makhnach, a police officer from Lida, who stated that the authorities had prepared them for a war against their own people.

In a 20 August statement by the United States Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo underlined that the USA supported international efforts to look independently into Belarus’ electoral irregularities, the human rights abuses that surrounded the election, and the crackdown that had followed.

In a 21 August statement by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, it was noted that, despite the majority of the detainees being released, serious concerns remained about the eight missing protesters and the sixty accused of serious criminal acts. The statement underlined the lack of information about the detainees' status and called for the government to stop unlawfully detaining people. The Commissioner also confirmed that there were four deaths and was greatly concerned about the allegations of large-scale torture and ill-treatment of people, including journalists and children.

On 1 September, in a statement by the UN human rights experts, more than 450 documented cases of torture and ill-treatment of detainees were mentioned, including sexual abuse and rape with rubber batons of men, women, and children.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus rejected allegations of abuse and torture of citizens detained during the protests. However, the beatings of the detainees, including at Akrestsina, were recognized by Alexander Lukashenko himself.

On 26 October, Anais Marin, the UN human rights investigator, called on the Belarus government to "stop repressing its own people". Around 20,000 people were detained in August and September, while hundreds have been reportedly beaten, intimidated, tortured, or ill-treated in custody, according to the sources described by Anais Marin. Belarus has witnessed large-scale demonstrations against President Alexander Lukashenko's re-election to a sixth term in the August 9 voting, which the opposition argues was rigged.

On 3 November 2020, UN experts criticized Belarus government for targeting women human rights defenders, during the mass protests. Three women human rights defenders were detained and persecuted by the authorities for their work as rights activists in September and early October.

On 6 November 2020, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe revealed in a letter about the human rights violations and cases of torture in Belarus, following the elections, where security forces used excessive violence against protesters. The report also stated to hold new presidential elections and initiated an investigation into allegations of torture.

On 15 November 2020, the UN human rights office said the government of Belarus continued to commit human rights violations with impunity against peaceful protesters three months after the country's disputed presidential elections. The Un claimed that the government had responded to these peaceful demonstrations in a heavy-handed manner, with the use of unnecessary or excessive force by law enforcement officials.

On 22 November, more than 200 people were detained in Minsk.

Attacks on journalists and censorship

During the 2020 Belarusian presidential election, reports of attacks increased. On 23 July, Lukashenko stated during a meeting with the leaders of the country's economic bloc, that his main concern was that the BBC
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