Former Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Belarus Stanislav Shushkevich said on December 19 that the Belarusian opposition forces had won. "Our government have run wild and applied brute physical force, resulting in more than 600 people in jail. This is the agony of power, and we would like to be correctly understood everywhere," he said at a press conference in Vilnius on January 6.
The politician also expressed hope that Europe would not support the regime directly or indirectly. Meanwhile, as DELFI reported, head of the Parliamentary Committee of Lithuanian Seim for Foreign Affairs Emanuelis Zingeris drew parallels between events in Minsk last year and the events of January 13, 1991, when 15 people died with the help of Soviet security forces. He also expressed hope that the next Nobel Peace Prize winner would be a Belarusian.
In turn, the daughter of former presidential candidate Vladimir Niakliaeu Eva said that «a mass wave of terror can be watched in Belarus without a declaration of martial law.» She believes that the street rally was the only opportunity to show the authorities that «Belarusians existed.» «There is no way to achieve justice in Belarus, so we cry for help to Europe,» Eva Niakliaeva said.
No One is Allowed to Trample on People, Kozulin
Presidential candidate in 2006 election, Alexander Kozulin, also attended the conference, called the crackdown on the opposition a pre-planned action. «When Lukashenko saw that the entire Independence Avenue was filled with people of different generations, he realized that the country had voted against him, and he gave orders to destroy everyone. Everyone, who came into the square, was a personal enemy of Lukashenko. He splashed his rage on every citizen. How can a governor, who calls himself «Batska,» be called this way?»the politician said.
According to him, even if Alexander Lukashenko collected 80% of voters, 20% is a large number of people who also have the right to vote. «No one is allowed to trample on his people,» Alexander Kozulin says.
Meanwhile, he said that the incumbent president can’t be a legitimate head of state since 1996, and what happened on December 19 is «a coup d’etat» that caused a serious rift in society. Ex-candidate stated that «dictatorship and dictator can not be a guarantor of stability in the region, as well as the dictator can not be the guarantor of the independence and sovereignty.»
Winners don’t Disperse Civilians, Kaliakin
In turn, the coordinator of the Campaign «For Fair Elections» Sergei Kaliakin said that «there is no real progress in compliance with standards, recognized by the OSCE.» According to him, the official results do not correspond to the real will of the Belarusian citizens because of the large number of violations, fraud use of administrative resources and state propaganda.
«Lukashenko hasn’t won, because the winners do not act this way. A person, supported by 4 / 5 of the Belarusian population, will not allow special forces to disperse peaceful citizens,» Sergei Kaliakin said with reference to exit-poll and the results of independent observation, showing that Alexander Lukashenko had not received enough votes in the first round.
