Resisting Lukashenko’s Regime
Radio Télévision Suisse | 26’
Postproduction script

0’04 VO: August 2020, Alexander Lukashenko is officially re-elected as the head of Belarus for his 6th term. He received 80% of the vote. For many Belarusians, he stole the vote once again. So people took peacefully to the streets. The authorities quickly got tense, like this plainclothes policeman here. Lukashenko encouraged this brutal response. These shocking images come from a country in the heart of Europe. Despite the repression, the movement did not weaken.

0’59 VO: On August 10, a demonstrator died from the police bullets. His death was filmed by several activists. This was the first death due to the demonstrations. Looking closely, we can see an empty handed man with a blood-stained shirt. The Interior Minister asserted he was holding an explosive device. This lie reinforced the determination of the demonstrators. The protests continued, until winter, and the regime resisted. Today, 15 months later, the revolt is over. In the face of violence, tens of thousands of activists have fled. We found three of them in the neighbouring country of Poland. Among them, two protesters and a former police officer. In Belarus, they were facing each other. Today, they find themselves side by side in exile.

2’15 VO: 23 year-old Aliaksei used to work in a consulting firm in Minsk, the Belarusian capital. On August 11, 2020, on the third day of the demonstrations, his life changed forever. He was arrested and taken to the police station.

2’33 Aliaksei Svirydzenka, protester: On the way, they kept questioning me. If I loved the country; how much did I get paid? If my answers didn't please them, they hit me with their clubs. At one point, one of them proposed to go and bury me in the forest. Another one said, "No, that would take too long." "What's the point of getting into this? I'm tired." I was told that we were going to the police station, but I didn't know where I was or what would happen to me. I thought, "What if they're really taking me to the forest?" At the police station, they put a plastic bag over my head and they tied my hands. It hurt my shoulder. Afterwards, I learned that I had a dislocated clavicle.

3’36 VO: Aliaksei was parked with dozens of protesters in the police station's gym. The police filmed the interrogations without imagining that whistleblowers would release them.

3’58 Aliaksei: The atmosphere was terrifying. You could hear people screaming. When I think about it, it was very tough. The people were being beaten, you could see their bloodied faces. It was awful. We had to stay on our knees, with our hands behind our backs and our forehead resting against the ground. In this position, you're resting on three ends: after 10 minutes, the knees start to hurt a lot. You can see me here, in the left corner, behind this young man. He's a friend, we were arrested together.

4’51 Police in video: What were you doing there?

Man in video: I was just taking a walk with a friend.

5’02 VO: For some, the interrogations have left deep marks.

5’06 Police in video: Where were you arrested?

Man in video: Next to the gas station.

5’14 Aliaksei: One of the policemen had weird sexual fantasies. He said, "What if we put a truncheon up his ass?" The others laughed like it was funny. and he started pointing at my ass with his truncheon. Then they tried to pull my belt, still with their truncheons. But because my belt was so tight, they didn't succeed. I changed the subject and they calmed down.

5’53 VO: Aliaksei was taken on a bus like this one to a facility detention centre where he spent two days.

5’59 Aliaksei: There were 91 people in a cell that was 15 feet by 15 feet or maybe six by six. The toilets were a simple hole with a flush. We took turns sleeping, or rather, we were dozing in small increments. We were hugging each other, because it was really cold. It was night time. The atmosphere was very tense. There was no water or food. I could only drink four sips of water per day. And during my three days of detention, they gave me one small piece of bread.

6’51 VO: After signing a confession extorted under threat, Aliaksei was eventually released.

7’00 Aliaksei: I immediately called my mother to calm her down. She was very worried. I lit a cigarette, I wasn't thinking about anything, I didn't want anything. I was offered food, because I hadn't eaten in three days, but I wasn't hungry. I took a bottle of water, a pack of cigarettes and that was it. I went home, washed up. I wasn't sleepy, I didn't want anything. The first 24 hours, I washed, took a few steps and smoked.

7’48 VO: Aliaksei then went to the hospital. He had suffered multiple bruises. His trial was scheduled for six weeks later, he would be likely to get jail time again. So he left Belarus illegally. Like so many others, he went into exile in Warsaw, Poland. Since the demonstrations, tens of thousands of Belarusians have found refuge there and also in Ukraine and Lithuania. We found them in front of the Belarusian embassy in Warsaw, draped in red and white, the colors of the opposition. Among them, Olga Pavlova. She was a doctor in Minsk. When the first demonstrations started, Olga took to the street to tend to the wounded. She ended up to the police station too.

8’52 Olga Pavlova, protester: I don't just want to tell you. I also want to remember. Because it was very hard, very cruel. We were lined up against a wall. The women were on the left, the men on the right. Behind us, there were members of the special forces armed with machine guns. There were many of them. And they were aiming at us with their machine guns. They made us understand that if we moved, they would shoot. They kept banging my head against the wall, both the employees as well as the head of the prison. If I refused to do something, they would take me from behind and hit my head against the wall.

10’01 VO: After 15 days of detention, Olga was released, but she couldn't forget what had happened and was actively involved with the opposition. Over the next few months, she returned three times in prison, the last time for three months. During those three months, the prison authorities tried to get her to comply, in vain.

10’21 Olga: After two or three weeks, I was put in a punishment cell because I refused to say hello to the guard. Then they made a new report against me, because they had found dust on my bed. So they added five days. I realized that I wasn't going to make it. It was like being in limbo. They were going to add days until I broke down, so I went on a 10-day hunger strike. In a pretty serious condition, I was transferred to a medical unit. In the final month, I was moved to a detention facility in Minsk. Then they convicted me to a three years suspended sentence. Once I got out of prison, I decided to run away. I hid in people's houses, then I crossed the Lithuanian border on foot, with the help of a GPS.

11’49 VO: This man tracked down dozens of activists like Olga. He was a lieutenant colonel, one the highest service ranks. Before leaving Belarus, Stanislav Lupanossov used to monitor political activists. This is the first time he has testified on camera.

12’12 Stanislav Lupanossov, member of Bypol: I'm a police officer. I've worked almost 20 years in law enforcement. I joined the police force, because my father was already a police officer. He dedicated his whole life to this job. I worked as the head of computer intelligence. So my job was to analyze video cameras, cell phones, internet connections, etc. I've always wanted to work in digital surveillance. I find it interesting to unravel complex cases, to use my brain. As of July 1, 2020, I entered the General Department of organized crime. But I never really worked on these issues, because I was told to track down dissenters.

13’21 VO: He had to compile information on political activists and provide his superiors with data and information showing the connections between activists. He says he did this job reluctantly, and the presidential election ended up tipping him over the edge to the other side. Law enforcement agencies expected lasting demonstrations. Stanislav had to support his colleagues in the field.

13’50 Stanislav: That day I was with the special operations forces at the entrance to Minsk, on the road from Brest. Our task was to stop suspicious cars to check if there were any weapons, or sharp objects in there. We stopped many cars, but we didn't find any weapons. When the polls closed, we went back to our headquarters. The operations brigades were deployed and tracked down the protesters to beat them up.

14’42 VO: The man in the front row is Nicolay Kaprenkov, Stanislav's boss. He came in person to flush out the demonstrators. This video allowed this police official to be added to the list of Belarusian officials sanctioned by the West.

15’19 Stanislav: Our leaders were acting in a criminal manner, but they didn't care. They could do whatever they wanted. That's exactly what law enforcement agencies did.

15’36 VO: Today, Lupanossov joins with former judges, police officers, agents of the Belarusian secret service agents who have also defected. Their organization called BYPOL is making public confidential information, like this video of a law enforcement intervention during the protests. Their documents denounce police brutality and are aimed at undermining the morale of the civil servants who are still in office.

16’06 Police in video: We can hit them under the bridge.

Police: Let's spread out!

Police: Turn the vehicles into battle formation!

Police: Don't get excited, don't get excited!

Police Close the door.

Police: Come closer! They are coming towards us.

Police: Get your grenades ready!

16’28 Stanislav: Why use grenades against peaceful citizens? There is no violence, no damage done. Why grenades? It's a shame about the police. These people are committing crimes.

16’51 VO: On August 11, this video appears on social media after being filmed by a passerby. Bikers were beaten by police officers on the sidelines of the demonstrations. As the days went by, similar videos kept popping up on social networks. They quickly went viral and helped harden the front.

17’17 Stanislav: Arbitrariness became the norm in the country. Crimes were committed by the leaders of the law enforcement agencies, people directly under the orders of Lukashenko.

17’32: During the first days of the protests, five activists were killed and hundreds injured. Many members of the police were disgusted by what they saw. They didn't hesitate to destroy their uniforms and decorations. Others tried to leave the country, despite legal obstacles. In November 2020, Stanislav managed to get a second passport and reach Ukraine.

18’11 Stanislav: I took two bags with me. In the first one, I put in clothes and in the other, my computer. That's all I had. Two suits, enough clothes for a week, and that's it. The minimum necessary. My family was searched several times in Belarus. My brother was put in prison for economic crimes. He was running a construction company. They did this on purpose to put pressure on me. It's quite clear. Everybody knows that.

19’07 VO: Having failed to catch the high-ranking officer while he was in Belarus, the authority's revenge is bitter. On television, he was presented as a traitor to the country.

19’17 Newsreader in video: Stanislav Lupanossov escaped to Ukraine. He was the mole who passed on information to the Bypol organization.

Newsreader: Bypol is a fake news factory. They want people to believe that their news comes from official sources to give weight to their theory.

19’39 VO: And then the authorities staged the death of his own brother, who supposedly died in prison.

19’45 Stanislav: "Yesterday, September 10, Mikhail Lupanosov died of the coronavirus in the prison hospital."

19’55 VO: It took Stanislav a day to find out that it was a trick of the regime.

20’00 Stanislav: It's even worse than in the days of the Soviet Union. This regime is more brutal, and it doesn't try to hide. It's very direct and does what it wants.

20’27 Child: I was hot last night.

Olga: You were hot last night.

20’33 VO: Nastia and Ivan have only just just woken up. Their parents are detained in Belarus. So Olga takes care of them.

20’46 Olga: These are my best friend's children. She and her husband were sentenced to five and a half years in prison.

21’00 VO: The cruelty of this situation doesn't stop here. Olga also has a son, aged 7. He is stuck in Belarus.

21’13 Olga: My child is with my ex-husband, because I had to leave in a hurry. Taking my son with me would have been too dangerous. I had to cross swamps... I hope I can get him here soon. I'm worried about my son. I can't feel anything for anyone. I was so scared that on an emotional level, it’s like I'm turned off. For over a year, I haven't felt anything, no feeling. My head just works. So I'm thinking about things, but I don't feel anything.

22’12 Aliaksei: I miss my friends. And also Minsk in general. I feel nostalgic for the city. I remember when we used to walk around on Zubitskaya Street and Okytyabr'skaya. We would also play soccer, at Dinamo stadium And also play video games. I also liked to go to the park, have a drink, go to a bar or go for a walk with a girl.

22’49 VO: In Poland, Alex has met up with several several Belarusian friends. His friend Gleb also went through through the prisons of Minsk.

23’01 Aliaksei: To our reunion! There are so many people in prison: Kalsnikova, Zanak, Babarika, Zerkala was able to escape.

Gleb: Yes, this is Belarus. The law sucks. It's normal.

Aliaksei: This is not normal.

Gleb: No, but people are starting to accept to accept this situation. It's becoming normal. That's scary. Do you believe in change?

Aliaksei: What change can there be if the most numerous demonstration gathered 300,000 people? Poland has now hosted 150,000 opponents, 20'000 are in Lithuania and 50'000 in Kiev. Those who protested have left.

Gleb: You mean the activists have left Belarus?

Aliaksei: Yes, or they are in prison or keeping a low profile.

24’03 VO: For many activists, these are dark times, especially since even out of Belarus, activists fear the consequences. Thanks to Russia, Lukashenko also strikes outside of his own country. Last May, the leader forcefully landed the plane in which the opponent Roman Protassevitch had boarded. He is now in jail. In August, in Kiev, Vitali Chichov, director of an NGO that helps Belarusian opponents, was found hanged in a park. The Ukrainian police opened an investigation as his death is considered suspicious. Also based in Kiev, one of his fellow activists agreed to talk to us, but only by Skype.

24’49 Victoria Fedorova, International committee for the enquiry into torture in Belarus: Of course, we don't feel safe outside of Belarus. Especially after the forced landing of the blogger's plane. Roman Protassevitch and his arrest. It was a very clear message from the regime that there are no more limits for the transgression of the law. They can use any way they can if they want to arrest a person. They can kidnap them and transport them secretly to Belarusian territory. They can also request extradition legally. No one can feel safe. Neither the people in Ukraine like us nor those in the European Union. Anything can happen.

25’46 VO: According to the human rights organization Viasna, Belarus has more than 800 political prisoners, and the regime is always particularly brutal with them.

26’09 Aliaksei: It seems to me I'll be here for a long time. It will take another 20 years before a new generation can come along. Before it is different. We had our chance, but I feel like we missed it. Nothing will change and I don't want to end up in jail.