BNR Rada takes note of case filed by “illegitimate regime”

October 2, Pozirk. The Rada of the Belarusian National Republic (BNR) has said that it is aware of the criminal case opened by “punitive bodies of the illegitimate regime” of Alaksandar Łukašenka against its members and leaders.

The organization said in a statement that it would not change its activities to support democratic changes in Belarus because of the proceedings initiated by the Prosecutor General’s Office under seven articles of the Criminal Code.

“It will in no way affect the activities of the BNR Rada, its cooperation with the democratic forces of Belarus and its support for the Belarusian volunteers fighting for freedom and independence of Ukraine,” it added.

It went on to say that those complicit in “illegal decisions and actions” stemming from the regime’s “extremist” ideology could be prosecuted after the rule of law is restored in the country.

“Accusations against the BNR Rada, including statements that it […] rejects the independence of the Belarusian state, are knowingly false and absurd, especially given the fact that it was the BNR Rada that declared the state sovereignty of Belarus on March 25, 1918, thus beginning the history of modern independent Belarus,” it said.

It went on to say that it had “repeatedly condemned the totalitarian regimes that committed crimes in Belarus, such as the regime of the German National Socialists.” It had also supported “the decisions of the Nuremberg trials to condemn […] crimes committed on Belarusian territory by German troops and their collaborators, including Belarusian and Russian nationalists, as well as citizens of other countries.”

“At the same time, BNR Rada condemns the totalitarian Soviet regime and its modern heirs abusing the World War II tragedy for propaganda purposes,” it added.

According to the statement, “former Belarusian President Alaksandar Łukašenka is the only head of a modern European state who is an open ideological follower of both the Soviet and Hitler regimes.”

“Łukašenka publicly made anti-Semitic remarks and said that the Belarusian language, culture and statehood were inferior. Łukašenka publicly expressed admiration for Hitler’s political practices, and during almost three decades of his illegal rule, he has built the political system of Belarus on Hitler’s principles of contempt for democratic freedoms and human rights, contempt for parliamentary democracy and concentration of absolute power in the hands of a single person,” the BNR Rada concluded.