14 September 2020
Pictured: Aleksandr Podrabinek
Source: Aleksandr Podrabinek’s Facebook page
A Statement by Former Soviet Political Prisoners
Horrific news is coming from Belarus. People, detained during peaceful protests, are subjected to monstrous beatings and torture, men are maimed, women and teenagers are raped. According to the latest news, law enforcers have started shooting at protesters. Without doubt, Europe has not seen such a mayhem of unrestrained, indiscriminate and unchallenged violence against peaceful citizens since the days of Hitler’s Nazism or Stalin’s Terror.
We, former political prisoners under the Soviet Regime, who know from our own experience this kind of repression against any form of opposition to the totalitarian evil, including even the most peaceful protest, fully support the struggle of the Belarusian people against this ruthless regime. But we also know that Lukashenka and his thugs wouldn’t have lasted a day in power if it weren’t for the constant and direct military, economic and propaganda support from Russia.
We consider the support the Russian authorities provide to this ruler of Belarus, who has completely lost his mind from fear of his own people and is evidently prepared to commit ever more crimes in an attempt to hold on to power, is completely unacceptable and intolerable. We demand that the Russian Government and the president of Russia immediately and publicly condemn the terror unleashed by the current authorities in Belarus against their own people and terminate any aid whatsoever to the criminal Lukashenka regime.
It’s important to understand that on the streets of Minsk, Grodno and other Belarusian cities the fate of Russia is also being decided. We call on everyone who cares about the future of both our countries, and ultimately the future of Europe and the world, to join with us in our demands.
Signed:
- Lev Timofeev
- Aleksandr Podrabinek
- Levan Berdzinishvilli
- Aleksei Smirnov
- Vladimir Brodsky
- David Berdzinishivilli
- Iosif Zisels
- Nikita Krivoshein
- Pavel Litvinov
- Gabriel Superfin
- Aleksandr Skobov
- Vardan Arutiunyan
- Paruir Airikyan
- Miroslav Marinovich
- Viktor Fainberg
- Nikolai Ivliushkin
- Pavel Protsenko
- Kirill Podrabinek
- Vasil Ovsienko
- Elena Sannikova
14th September 2020
Translated by Fergus Wright
