00:00:01:08 – 00:00:04:23

CAPTION

00:00:04:21 – 00:00:09:05 CAPTION

00:00:09:05 – 00:00:12:02 CAPTION

(Belarus, December 2010.)

(Iryna Khalip, journalist and wife of presidential candidate Andrei Sannikov, )

(gives a telephone interview to Russian Radio…)

IRYNA KHALIP

wife of Andrei Sannikov

(RUSSIAN SUBTITLED)

00:00:12:02 – 00:00:16:14

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00:01:18:22 – 00:01:20:08

Our campaign was especially peaceful and not violent.

We formed a group to lead negotiations with the government.

But the troops were called in to Independence Square. They were special forces.

They dispersed the crowd and began to beat them.

My husband Andrei Sannikov was badly beaten.

I was also hit, but fortunately not as hard. We are now on our way to hospital.

Oh... We are being stopped by a police car.

Maybe we should move closer to the curb.

Looks like we are being arrested.

Oh...

I’m being pulled out!

I’m being pulled out!

What are you doing?

What are you doing?

Ok…

Ok…

This is like a Hollywood blockbuster. They have pushed me against the car.

We’re on the ground.

Bastards!

Bitches!

Fascists! They’re hitting my face!

They’re twisting my arms!

OPENING TITLES

00:01:20:21

(a film by Mathew Charles and Juan Passarelli)

(narrated by Joanna Lumley)

00:01:53:11 – 00:01:57:03

UPSOF

Aleksandr Grigorovich Lukashenko

IRINA BOGDANOVA (English)

00:01:57:18 – 00:01:59:24

Hitler is Lukashenko’s hero.

ANDREI SANNIKOV (Russian subtitled)

00:01:59:24 – 00:02:03:15

Today we are called the last dictatorship in Europe.

EVA NEKLYAEVA (English)

00:02:06:00 – 00:02:13:16

When there is no value in your father’s life, it’s maddening to be honest, really maddening.

IRINA BOGDANOVA (English)

00:02:15:05 – 00:02:24:10

He murders people, he kidnaps people, he arrests everybody who goes against him and I can’t believe the world lets him gets away with it.

END OF TITLES CAPTION

00:02:29:15

(EUROPE’S LAST DICTATOR)

ANIMATION

00:02:32:06 – 00:02:44:04

“Anyone joining an opposition protest is a terrorist and we will wring their necks like a duck.” (Lukashenko, March 2006).

CAPTION

00:02:47:01 – 00:02:50:07

(March, 2011 / Hampshire, England)

IRINA BOGDANOVA (English)

00:02:50:07

This is my fantastic younger son, he’s very good… stop making faces silly you. Who has been very supportive, and he’s been very good at feeding, feeding us as well as everything else. So he’s cooking today. He is the main chef today. So if anything is not nice... it’s his fault.

YOUNGEST SON (English)

00:03:11:07 – 00:03:12:19

..anything goes wrong, or if you’re poisoned...

IRINA BOGDANOVA (English)

00:03:12:19 – 00:03:03:18

If everything is great it’s to my credit.

NARRATION

00:03:20:00 – 00:03:48:22

Irina Bogdanova is originally from Belarus. She has lived in the UK with her husband Tony for 18 years, but in 2010 their lives were turned upside down. Irina’s brother, Andrei Sannikov, was a candidate in the Belarusian presidential election. He was imprisoned along with his wife, Iryna Khalip, after a violent crackdown on the country’s opposition. Irina Bogdanova’s home in southern England has effectively become a refuge for those who managed to escape.

IRINA BOGDANOVA (English)

00:03:49:19 – 00:04:06:11

House is very much a refugee camp, it’s like suitcases everywhere you know, stuff is everywhere people are going, coming and going. Sitting on the computers, everybody’s kind of into their computer doing their bit of work. Which is, bizarre in all honesty.

IRINA BOGDANOVA (English)

00:04:07:23 – 00:04:36:19

People are so isolated urm, in terms of information in Belarus that you can’t compare it to prison. That’s why now actually quite often when I give interviews I do say it’s not my brother that’s in prison, its 10 million people that live in prison. It’s information prison; its human rights are violated at every level. Okay they live in their own houses but they don’t have freedom.

CAPTION

00:04:38:19 – 00:04:33:05

(March 2011 / London England)

NARRATION

00:04:33:20 – 00:04:50:15

Irina Bogdanova is an acupuncturist.

But since her brothers arrest she’s been thrust into the limelight to try and secure his release.

IRINA BOGDANOVA (English)

00:04:51:15 – 00:05:00:01

I want some knight in shining armour to ride to Belarus and open the doors of the prison, but that’s a fairytale.

NARRATION

00:05:04:20 – 00:05:15:06

Today Irina’s at the British foreign office to meet the Minister for Europe.

Lobbying politicians and talking to the press have become routine since her brother’s arrest.

And it´s not always easy.

IRINA BOGDANOVA (English)

00:05:18:02 – 00:06:20:02

You feel when you are negotiating with, you know, ministers of foreign affairs and urm presidents and diplomats and just Andrei’s friends whatever level they are and everything. I felt I need to be my best and deliver the message that I needed to deliver and get them to realise how much help we need, he needs and I couldn’t even think straight, let alone get engaged with people and everything. As I just felt that I was letting him down.

In Britain people know much more about what’s happening in Ivory Coast than Belarus. When Belarus is next door and Ivory Coast is who knows where. And I don’t understand why but that is the situation.

NARRATION

00:06:25:05 – 00:07:18:16

Belarus is a country of 10 million. It lies between Poland and Russia, with the Ukraine to the south and the Baltic states to the north.

Alexander Lukashenko has ruled this former Soviet Republic with an iron fist for the past 16 years. His authoritarian style has earned him the nickname of Europe’s last dictator. For many he is a figure of ridicule, but his grip on power is real and terrifying.

The headquarters of the state security service, still called the KGB, dominate the Minsk skyline just as its officers rule Belarusian society. There’s no free speech, the media is almost entirely state run or heavily state controlled and internet usage is restricted and monitored. Lukashenko controls almost every aspect of life here.

Any opposition is firmly dealt with.

UNKNOWN

00:07:27:07 – 00:07:27:24

00:07:32:00 – 00:07:32:17

00:07:32:24 – 00:07:33:12

Grab her hands!

Put the cameras away!

Put the cameras away!

NARRATION

00:07:35:18 – 00:07:42:15

Foreign journalists are not welcome.

Most of this film has been made undercover.

CAPTION

00:07:45:16 – 00:07:49:02

(December 19th, 2010)

NARRATION

00:07:44:16 – 00:08:23:00

In December 2010, Belarus held a presidential election. But Belarus is democratic only in name.

Lukashenko was standing for a fourth term in office. He’s ruled the country since 1994 and over the years has steadily tightened his grip, manipulating parliament and brainwashing his people with propaganda.

In 2010 Lukashenko was declared the winner of the election even before the polls had closed. International observers described the result as flawed, just as they had done in previous years. So this came as no real surprise; vote-rigging has become almost common practice for Lukashenko.

ANIMATION

00:08:23:20 – 00:08:42:06

“We have rigged the election. 93.5% have voted for me… But they say it is not a European outcome so we have made it 86%.” (Lukashenko, November 2006)

NARRATION

00:08:45:15 – 00:09:34:00

It can often appear that time has stood still in Minsk. The grand boulevards, which are often very empty. The intimidating and oppressive architecture which dwarfs the people that live here. It’s all very reminiscent of the Soviet era, and people shiver when you mention politics. Nobody dare talk out of line, 80% are employed by the state here and even in the small private sector the state has the biggest influence. So going against the regime means losing your job, losing your livelihood, putting your whole family at risk.

Yet on the night of the presidential election it looked like people had finally had enough. Tens of thousands came onto the streets to protest the vote-rigging. This was the largest demonstration Belarus had ever seen.

CAPTION

00:09:36:01 – 09:39:04

(Andrei Sannikov / Presidential Candidate)

ANDREI SANNIKOV (Russian subtitled)

00:09:35:18 – 00:09:36:13

00:09:36:17 – 00:09:39:01

00:09:39:14 – 00:09:41:01

00:09:46:14 – 00:09:49:23

00:09:50:10 – 00:09:52:18

00:09:53:04 – 00:09:57:01

00:10:00:24 – 00:10:03:17

00:10:05:12 – 00:10:08:22

To all you gathered here,

Let’s march towards Parliament.

Long live Belarus!

People demand freedom and independence.

The Soviet Union collapsed

and Lukashenko’s dictatorship will collapse today.

Freedom to the Belarusian nation!

Leave office now!

NARRATION

00:10:14:21 – 00:10:25:23

Andrei Sannikov has been a critic of the Belarusian regime for some time. Speaking six months before his presidential campaign began, he was well aware of the dangers involved in going up against Lukashenko.

CAPTION

00:10:27:24 – 00:10:31:01

(March, 2010)

ANDREI SANNIKOV (English)

00:10:26:23 – 00:10:51:04

It’s not easy, it’s not safe but it’s my country so I have to speak. Exposure is some kind of protection, I don’t hide and I don’t really speak double language. They know my views and I keep these views and I stick to these views.

CAPTION

00:10:52:19 – 00:10:55:22

(Irina Bogdanova / Andrei Sannikov’s Sister)

IRINA BOGDANOVA (English)

00:10:51:05 – 00:11:48:01

I’m four and a half years younger so I always was under his feet, so I was kind of chucked out of the room and because, being a girl I was very nosey and I needed to know everything that was going on. Big boys didn’t want me around so I was constantly locked out. Normally he’s a very sort of, domesticated, in a way quiet person, which is difficult to believe seeing him as a political leader. He is very determined, very forceful and energetic and everything and he is. But at home, he is, he loves picking mushrooms, he loves just walking in the forest, he loves cooking, really likes inventing recipes and things like that.

CAPTION

00:11:49:01 – 00:11:51:08

Leave office now!

IRINA BOGDANOVA (English)

00:11:55:12 – 00:12:20:24

It was exciting for lots of people, gathered on the street; lots of people supported the democratic movement and wanted to see Belarus free. And wanted to see fair elections and everything so it was very exciting and that atmosphere of basically celebration on the streets.

NARRATION

00:12:23:13 – 00:12:33:10

Opposition parties joined forces and gathered outside parliament. Spurred on by the large crowd they called for talks with the government and demanded a second round of the election.

ANDREI SANNIKOV (Russian)

00:12:35:15 – 00:12:40:16

Lukashenko has lost and now he is using force to stay in power and that’s the only reaction

IRINA BOGDANOVA

00:12:40:16 – 00:12:49:14

They wanted to negotiate with the existing government and achieve some sort of agreement obviously peacefully and normally negotiate.

NARRATION

00:12:50:03 – 00:12:53:11

But it soon became clear Lukashenko was not willing to listen.

IRINA BOGDANOVA (English)

00:12:59:18 – 00:13:02:24

And then all of a sudden they started to attack a crowd of people.

UNKNOWN

00:13:28:16 – 00:13:30:03

00:13:30:18 - 00:13:33:02

00:13:33:15 – 00:13:35:02

This is not frightening!

What is scary is to live under a dictator!

It´s scary to live in fear.

IRINA BOGDANOVA (English)

00:13:47:14 – 00:13:54:24

There was no resistance, people were not armed it’s just despicable what happened.

UNKNOWN (Russian)

00:14:00:09 – 00:14:02:12

00:14:04:05 – 00:14:05:14

00:14:06:03 – 00:14:09:05

Bastards!

Bastards!

Why are you hitting her? Bastards!

IRINA BOGDANOVA (English)

00:14:21:03 – 00:14:25:21

00:15:08:05 – 00:15:40:04

Human beings don’t behave like that, you know, animals don’t behave like that.

Andrei was beaten up, badly to the point that he couldn’t get up. And I think it was a few days later that I discovered that how badly he was beaten up that this riot police shield was put on him and police, riot police were jumping up and down on him. And obviously causing huge damage and I’ve seen photos of him lying on the ground. It’s just so horrible, so brutal.

NARRATION

00:15:51:21 – 00:16:09:04

Vladimir Neklayev is a famous Belarusian poet. He also stood against Lukashenko in the election of 2010, and like Andrei Sannikov, he paid a heavy price for it. He was targeted by security forces as he and his team made their way to demonstrate against the vote-rigging.

ANDREI DIMITRYIEV (English)

00:16:09:16 – 00:16:32:08

We were gathering together with our activists near our office and then the idea was to go from the office to the central square where supposed to be the main meeting. It was a road police car that crossed the road and stopped us.

VLADIMIR NEKLAYEV (Russian)

00:16:32:10 – 00:16:33:08

POLICE

00:16:33:08 – 00:16:34:16

NEKLAYEV

00:16:35:16 – 00:16:37:01

00:16:37:01 – 00:16:40:08

00:16:40:11 – 00:16:41:24

00:16:44:05 – 00:16:45:17

00:16:46:19 – 00:16:47:18

00:16:48:16 – 00:16:49:21

00:16:50:09 – 00:16:51:08

00:16:52:09 – 00:16:53:19

UNKNOWN

00:16:59:20 – 00:16:57:05

00:16:57:22 – 00:16:59:21

NEKLYAEV

00:16:59:21 – 00:17:01:06

UNKNOWN

00:17:20:02– 00:17:22.09

00:17:23:19 – 00:17:25:11

00:17:25:14 – 00:17:27:14

00:17:28:13 – 00:17:29:18

00:17:31:22 – 00:17:32:16

00:17:32:19 – 00:17:33:11

00:17:34:01 – 00:17:35:06

00:17:35:10 – 00:17:37:07

00:17:37:07 – 00:17:39:07

Please leave.

I want to look inside your car.

You don´t need to look inside our car. I will tell you myself what is in it.

It’s radio equipment, we won’t go anywhere.

You’re breaking the law.

We demand you move the car.

Move the car!

Captain…

Move the car!

Don´t create an incident.

Let´s move it on three, guys.

One… Two… Three

Don´t create an incident.

Switch the fucking camera off!

Look what they´ve done to him!

Call an ambulance!

Can you hear me?

Call an ambulance!

Call an ambulance!

Keep him warm.

Quickly, let´s go to the office!

To the office, damn it!

ANDREI DIMITRIYEV (English)

00:16:51:07 – 00:17:01:13

(overlaid with above)

It was suddenly, we saw people in black masks who just jumped to the people.

ANDREI DIMITRIYEV (English)

00:17:40:16 – 00:17:52:12

They beat Neklayev very bad, I mean extremely bad. He even didn’t have the possibilities to stand up. He looked... you know we just prayed that he was alive.

EVA NEKLYAEVA (English)

00:18:00:03 – 00:18:17:22

I learned what inspiration means because when the inspiration struck my father he just stand up whatever he was doing and just leave and write something.

CAPTION

00:18:08:12 – 00:18:11:15

00:18:22:16 – 00:18:25:16

(Eva Neklyaeva / Vladimir Neklayev’s daughter)

(May, 2011 / Helsinki, Finland)

EVA NEKLAYEVA (English)

00:18:24:20 – 00:19:18:07

You know it’s a pleasure to work in the arts in Finland because you have the state support system, you don’t censorship because when I was working in Belarus, in Minsk, first of all they started the censorship committee around that time when I started my professional activities. So you had to submit a list of works that you are going to, for example when you organize an exhibition, you have to submit a list of works with all the pictures to the censorship committee so that they would you know approve that the works were not in any way considered to be political or you know critical of the regime.

UNKNOWN

00:19:19:04 – 00:19:21:04

Come on, lift him under the arms!

ANDREI DIMITRIYEV (English)

00:19:22:03 – 00:19:41:22

They lie us to the ground, they few times they beat Neklayev, we tookNeklayev and brought him to our office and then we called to medicine and came and took Neklayev to hospital and then he like disappeared.

EVA NEKLAYEVA (English)

00:19:42:20 – 00:19:52:13

He was basically kidnapped from the hospital. When we found out he was in prison it was actually good news for us as at least he was alive.

NARRATION

00:19:55:16 – 00:20:10:13

Hundreds were arrested that night in Minsk and many more were detained in the days that followed. The KGB used telephone records to trace each and every person that had used their mobile during the protest. People were locked up or issued fines and placed on a blacklist.

ANIMATION

00:20:14:11 – 00:20:43:01

“The opposition uses social networks to call for action… I will look, watch… and then I will strike hard.” (Lukashenko, June 2011)

NARRATION

00:20:44:08 – 00:21:00:18

With virtually all members of the opposition behind bars, including Andrei Sannikov and Vladimir Neklayev, it fell to their families to take on Lukashenko and get them released. Irina and Eva who had never been that interested in politics were turned into the public faces of the Belarusian opposition overnight.

CAPTION

00:20:51:18 – 00:20:54:19

(Brussels, Belgium / January 2011)

IRINA BOGDANOVA (English)

00:21:02:21 – 00:21:34:17

It went very well, Baroness Ashton came to talk to myself first of all and Eva Neklyaeva, to express her sympathy with members of the families of those detained and the outrage and the shock of the whole European community.

I passed the petition from the committee of Valinya which is relatives of all detained, and yes she accepted it and expressed every hope that it will be sorted out very quickly.

EVA NEKLAYEVA (English)

00:21:37:06 – 00:21:56:03

I would like to thank you for this opportunity to raise my voice and to give a voice to all the relatives of the prisoners of consciousness who are now sitting in prison in Belarus. What we say is that if you don’t get interested in politics, politics will get interested in you.

IRINA BOGDANOVA (English)

00:21:56:03 – 00:22:19:05

It’s not just a new skill, it’s the whole new set of skills I’m developing. I never spoke publically, I never I don’t remember myself being on camera. I never.. yer I’m very private person it doesn’t come easily but it needs to be done so there is no options.

NARRATION

00:22:21:16 – 00:22:31:13

Reliving the night of the election gets no easier for Irina or Eva. But what started as a campaign to release their relatives has turned into a political fight against Lukashenko himself.

IRINA BOGDANOVA (English)

00:22:34:11 – 00:22:47:02

Remember Hitler, Hitler is Lukashenko’s hero. If we don’t stop him now, he should have been stopped ages ago, but if we don’t stop him now it will affect every one of you, I am absolutely sure of it.

LUKASHENKO (Russian)

00:22:47:11 – 00:22:49:17

00:22:49:17 – 00:22:51:23

00:22:56:02 – 00:22:58:01

00:22:58:16 – 00:23:01:05

00:23:01:05 – 00:23:03:10

00:23:04:05 – 00:23:06:13

00:23:06:21 – 00:23:09:04

00:23:09:04 – 00:23:11:04

They were carrying him in a tent, and I though “That’s it, he died!”

“I shan’t ever be let off the hook.”

So they smacked you on the head? You’re a man!

Why did you run sobbing to the hospital?

So they smacked you in the head, so what?

And these people wanted to be President?

What kind of a president can you be, if they smack you in the face

And you weep for the whole world to hear?

UNKNOWN

00:23:12:20 – 00:23:15:22

00:23:16:00 – 00:23:17:16

00:23:18:15 – 00:23:19:20

00:23:21:24 – 00:23:22:18

00:23:22:21 – 00:23:23:13

Switch the fucking camera off!

Call an ambulance!

Can you hear me?

Call an ambulance!

Call an ambulance!

EVA NEKLAYEVA (English)

00:23:23:17 – 00:24:07:13

When you hear that someone doesn’t value the life of your father at all, when there is no value in your father’s life for this person, it is maddening to be honest, it is really maddening.

Irina, she’s the only one who actually knows what I am going through, what my family is going through. And, we in this situation, communication between the relatives of the political prisoners is extremely important because sort of you don’t really have to say anything you know you just know what the other person is going through.

IRINA BOGDANOVA (English)

00:24:08:10 – 00:24:17:02

It was really nice to meet her, yes it’s that comfort in a way in being able to share, just even to talk, just be with a person who knows how you feel it’s very comforting yer.

ANIMATION

00:24:28:06 – 00:24:39:01

“The history of Germany is a copy of the history of Belarus… German order evolved over centuries and attained its peak under Hitler.” (Lukashenko, November 1995)

CAPTION

00:24:39:23 – 00:24:42:01

(Hampshire, England)

IRINA BOGDANOVA (English)

00:24:42:02 – 00:26:01:01

So the website it’s freebelarusnow was setup by mostly the relatives of the imprisoned in Belarus in support of them, and to raise public awareness. If I start thinking about how he is there I definitely just wouldn’t be able to carry on fighting because I’d just fall apart I let it happen couple of times and it’s just unbearable I stopped sleeping, I stopped eating, I just don’t function and especially if you wake up, sometimes last thing at night is not that bad because I’m exhausted by then so I just zonk and I’m asleep. If I wake up or something wakes me up during the night that’s the worst time, you just really need to work really hard not to allow the feeling just to flood in. So I’m trying to when I imagine Andrei when I try to talk to him and everything, I imagine him like when we were on holiday and in a nice and happy environment when we were doing nice things together rather than him being in prison.

NARRATION

00:26:01:22 – 00:26:07:09

If you could talk to him, what would you say? What would be the first thing you could say?

IRINA BOGDANOVA (English)

00:26:07:23 – 00:26:12:01

That I’m extremely proud of him and I love him very much.

CAPTION

00:26:29:06 – 00:26:32:07

(Minsk, Belarus / December 2010)

NARRATION

00:26:27:24 – 00:26:40:20

It’s perhaps ironic that Andrei, and his wife Iryna Khalip, were stopped and arrested here on Victory Square on the night of the election. They’d been brutally attacked outside parliament, and this man, Ilya Kuzniatsou came to their aid.

ILYA KUZNIATSOU (English)

00:26:41:06 – 00:27:38:20

I saw Sannikov and his wife leaving the square as well, actually trying to escape from police. He was in quite a bad shape, his bodyguard was pulling him from the square so I thought his legs were broken or something he couldn’t walk at all, when he was trying to say he was badly hurt he couldn’t even talk he was in so much pain. He was with his wife as well, Iryna, she was crying, shocked. I first heard the sirens and then saw in the rearview window and saw the flashing lights.

CAPTION

00:27:40:09 – 00:27:43:18

(voice of Iryna Khalip / wife of Andrei Sannikov)

IRYNA KHALIP (Russian subtitled)

00:27:39:01 – 00:27:40:17

00:27:40:17 – 00:27:45:04

We are now on our way to hospital.

Oh.. We are being stopped by a police car.

ILYA KUZNIATSOU (English)

00:27:45:19 – 00:28:02:22

So they stopped me here and then ran to the car and ordered us to get out of the car, one of the cars was blocking us here, one in the front, one at the back so it was like a big operation like they were chasing big time criminals.

REPORTER (English)

00:28:03:09 – 00:28:05:15

And they dragged you all from the car?

ILYA KUZNIATSOU (English)

00:28:05:15 – 00:28:10:19

They dragged us all from the car, they put our hands on the hood, spread our legs.

IRYNA KHALIP (Russian)

00:28:11:02 – 00:28:12:16

00:28:13:17 – 00:28:14:08

00:28:14:08 – 00:28:15:05

00:28:18:09 – 00:28:20:23

00:28:21:06 – 00:28:22:08

00:28:22:19 – 00:28:24:05

Looks like we are being arrested.

Oh…

I’m being pulled out!

I’m being pulled out!

What are you doing?

What are you doing?

REPORTER

00:28:24:20 – 00:28:26:07

Even Andrei, who was quite obviously injured?

ILYA KUZNIATSOU (English)

00:28:27:08 – 00:29:29:16

Urm, they were trying to get him out of the car, I didn’t really see it well because I had my back turned to him. He was at the back behind my car, but yes in the end they actually pulled him out of the car, there was a lot of screaming and shouting. There was some woman passing by, old woman, and she said ‘what are you doing? Release, let them go, they are not criminals’. And then there was young guy with his girlfriend walking he took out his cell phone and started filming this and uh, two of the police man who were arresting us jumped on him, pushed him to the ground, his face in the snow and started bashing him quite professionally so I thought they were not road police they were definitely some secret services.

IRYNA KHALIP (Russian)

00:29:30:01 – 00:29:34:00

00:29:34:12 – 00:29:35:24

00:29:36:13 – 00:29:37:07

00:29:37:18 – 00:29:38:09

00:29:39:05 – 00:28:41:23

0029:42:02 – 00:29:43:13

This like a Hollywood blockbuster. They’ve pushed me against the car.

We´re on the ground.

Bastards!

Bitches!

Fascists! They’re hitting my face!

They’re twisting my arms.

CAPTION

00:29:49:09 – 00:29:52:04

(Irina Bogdanova / Andrei Sannikov’s sister)

IRINA BOGDANOVA (English)

00:29:49:01 – 00:30:29:20

They are not dangerous people, they are not criminals or anything like that, it’s just, it’s just a crackdown on opposition. And that’s it. That’s all it comes down to. You start guessing what could be done to them, are they being tortured in a physical way? Or psychologically? Mum received a note, it didn’t sound like Andrei at all. I can absolutely guarantee that even if it was Andrei’s hand he was either dictated it or actually he was under the influence of drugs. Because it just didn’t sound right.

CAPTION

00:30:33:20 – 00:30:37:17

(Minsk, Belarus April 2011)

NARRATION

00:30:42:23 – 00:30:58:05

In April 2011 a bomb ripped through a Minsk metro station just metres from Lukashenko’s office. He was quick to call it terrorism and even pinned blame on the opposition. But what’s even stranger is that Lukashenko took his young son to witness the carnage.

EVA NEKLAYEVA (English)

00:31:00:02 – 00:31:23:23

My explanation would be that he wanted to show him what an enemy of the state can do to the people. They want to do you harm, everybody’s out to get you, that is his way of thinking, really thinking that all the world is out to get him.

NARRATION

00:31:28:16 – 00:33:52:17

Even more sinister are the accusations that Lukashenko might have been behind this explosion himself, a way of persuading his people they are under threat, and he is the only man who can save them.

There’s been speculation about Lukashenko’s mental health for some time. Before the presidential election, a prominent human rights lawyer asked the central election committee and supreme court to look into whether Lukashenko was still fit to be commander-in-chief. But he was ignored.

Diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks show the Americans have also had their concerns, referring to him as bizarre and disturbed.

Lukashenko grew up in the East of Belarus, not far from the border with Russia.

He was tormented at school for being illegitimate and was raised by his mother.

And if Minsk feels like a step back in time, the Belarusian countryside resembled another era completely.

On the approach to Lukashenko’s home villag