Łukašenka tells judges: remember, you defended your country in 2020

April 14, BPN. Had the judiciary wobbled in 2020, “we would have been worse off than Ukraine,” Alaksandr Łukašenka said on April 14, addressing the Supreme Court judges at an awards ceremony in Minsk, a Łukašenka-affiliated Telegram channel reported.

“For the first time in modern history, Belarusian courts faced unprecedented information and psychological pressure,” which continues to this day, Łukašenka said, as quoted by the channel, Pul Pervogo.

“The main goal of all that was to destabilize the courts, to knock the consolidated judiciary out of balance. Those present here have stood these tests with dignity and remained faithful to the law and their profession,” he said.

Commenting on the 2020 protests, he said his reasoning then was that over time his supporters would be able to see that they were right. “Remember, you defended your country,” he said. “And you and I saved that country.”

He said judges “did a great job.”

On April 11, Pavieł Sapiełka, a lawyer with the Viasna Human Rights Center, said that “the judiciary has lost the features of justice, became an instrument of power, with judges playing a major role in the political prosecution under extremist and defamatory articles.”