{"id":71578,"date":"2024-03-07T09:54:21","date_gmt":"2024-03-07T06:54:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/71578\/"},"modified":"2024-03-07T10:14:56","modified_gmt":"2024-03-07T07:14:56","slug":"lukasenka-doesnt-fight-women-just-puts-them-in-prison-for-dissent","status":"publish","type":"longreads","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/71578\/","title":{"rendered":"\u0141uka\u0161enka “doesn’t fight women,\u201d just puts them in prison for dissent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka demonstrated his skills in flattering women at a meeting with activists of the pro-government Belarusian Women’s Union (BWU) on March 5. While he spares no compliments for loyal women, his government has put hundreds of female opponents to prison for political dissent.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n\n Activists of the pro-government Belarusian Women's Union meeting with \u0141uka\u0161enka on March 5\n <\/div>\n \n
\n (\u0141uka\u0161enka's website)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u0141uka\u0161enka’s gallantry quickly vanishes when he talks about opposition leader \u015aviat\u0142ana Cichano\u016dskaja who disputed his victory in the 2020 presidential election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compliments<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

“I certainly understand that women feel good about me,\u201d \u0141uka\u0161enka said at the meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause I am your most ardent supporter and a man far from ideal but exceptionally devoted to women. I believe that our nature has created nothing more perfect than a woman. That is my firm conviction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“If you did not exist, men would have gone mad and started wars long ago, even in Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There are no women in the world more beautiful than Belarusian women. . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we had a women’s [political] party, it would be unrivaled. . . . But what for? People do not really take parties seriously.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ironically, his government hardly tolerates even loyal parties, and has shut down all opposition ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2007, the Supreme Court closed down the Belarusian Women’s Party “Nadzeja” for alleged paperwork irregularities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0141uka\u0161enka called the BWU a pillar of civil society. This is how he promotes government-organized non-governmental organizations (GONGOs) trying to fill the vacuum created by the brutal purge of the third sector after the 2020 postelection protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0141uka\u0161enka hopes that the loyalists will pay him back by supporting his initiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No respect for female dissenters<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Once a woman opposes his policies, his fake respect for ladies disappears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0141uka\u0161enka has repeatedly claimed that he does not fight women. He repeated that claim twice in July 2021, but called \u015aviat\u0142ana Cichano\u016dskaja \u201cscum\u201d anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He must be well aware that most Belarusians voted for Cichano\u016dskaja, just a housewife at the time, in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why did he let her run? Apparently, sexism played a role. Probably, his advisors convinced him that he would spectacularly defeat the politically inexperienced woman and demonstrate political pluralism to the West.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“A man will become president, I am absolutely sure of it,” Lukashenka said arrogantly one month before the vote during a visit to the Minsk Tractor Plant. By then, the campaign team of her husband Siarhej Cichano\u016dski was already denied registration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“He is not even a presidential candidate; he is just rooting for his wife. He realizes that no one in Belarus will vote for a woman,” \u0141uka\u0161enka said about Cichano\u016dskaja and her husband.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Our constitution has not been made for a woman. And our society is not mature enough to vote for a woman because the president has strong powers under the constitution.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are his genuine views on gender and the role of women in politics. It is easy to shine like the sun at the meeting with pro-government female activists, it is much more difficult to give women real powers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Female political opponents<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the summer of 2020, while \u0141uka\u0161enka was touring military and police units to morally prepare his security forces for suppressing protests, the female opposition trio led by Cichano\u016dskaja was building momentum in the presidential race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On August 9, many Belarusians voted for Cichano\u016dskaja not because of her gender but because she was a symbol of change and protest against the dictator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After police brutally suppressed the first wave of protests, hundreds of women dressed in white and carrying flowers took to the streets, sparking a second wave, and the regime began to ruthlessly crush the peaceful uprising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women were beaten and tortured. They have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms, and some have been ill-treated behind bars to this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the day \u0141uka\u0161enka was showering compliments to his supporters, a new trial opened at a Homiel court against Volha Majorava already serving 20 years in prison for political dissent. She is accused of “malicious disobedience\u201d to the prison administration, a charge routinely used to prolong political prisoners\u2019 sentences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Journalist Kaciaryna Andrejeva, for instance, was first sentenced to two years in prison for broadcasting live from an opposition rally and later prosecutors added eight more years to her sentence, allegedly for high treason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New charges have been brought against Palina \u0160arenda-Panasiuk. The mother of two has not broken down behind bars and is standing tall despite spending long time in the punishment cell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n\n Palina \u0160arenda-Panasiuk\n <\/div>\n \n
\n (Her husband Andrej \u0160arenda's social media)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Volha Za\u0142atar, the mother of five underage children, was sentenced to four years for taking part in opposition protests. Calls for her release have hit a deaf wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since February 15 last year, there has been no news from Maryja Kale\u015bnikava sentenced to 11 years in prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Human Rights Center Viasna, there were 170 female political prisoners in Belarus at the end of February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, 361 female political prisoners have served their sentences and have been released, sentenced to non-custodial punishment or have been amnestied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human rights activists are not aware of all cases, in which women have been prosecuted for political reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Volha Harbunova, of the opposition’s United Transitional Cabinet, said that since 2020 “at least 895 women have gone through prisons and unfair trials [for political reasons].”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, Cichano\u016dskaja was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison for alleged high treason, conspiracy to seize power and establishing and leading an extremist group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All he really loves is power<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0141uka\u0161enka encourages women to have more children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In August 2018, during his visit to a rural hospital, he urged young mothers to give birth to at least three or four.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In November 2020, he reduced his expectation to two or three. Otherwise, he said, there would be no one left in Belarus in half a century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We need people. The demographic problem . . . you women don’t seem to want to have children today,” \u0141uka\u0161enka said in October during his trip to the Brest district.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is true that the birth rate has fallen. \u0141uka\u0161enka is mostly concerned about a shortage of obedient workers and soldiers, not about free personal development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exodus from Belarus following the 2020 crackdown is a national tragedy. Some are fleeing to escape imprisonment; others are looking for better opportunities to realize their potential. Many Belarusians see no future under \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s dictatorship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of them are young, progressive, dynamic and entrepreneurial. Under normal circumstances, they would have families and children in Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Afraid of loosening the screws, he prefers the exodus and depletion of the nation’s gene pool to civil accord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0141uka\u0161enka keeps saying that he loves women, but the only thing he really loves is power, sacrificing the country’s future and crushing the dreams and prospects of men and those he calls “the beautiful half.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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