DECLARATION OF THE BELARUSIAN SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY (HRAMADA)

On sentencing of Alexander Kozulin
On July 13 a Minsk city district court (judge Rybakov, prosecutor Bortnik) issued a harsh sentence to Alexander Kozulin. A former presidential candidate, leader of the social democratic movement, professor and formerly a minister and president of the Belarusian State University, was thrown in prison for five and a half years.

The trial, fast and openly unjust, was also demonstrative. It was the first proceeding against a democratic activist in which the political character of the charges was practically not concealed. The criminal charges brought against Mr. Kozulin was so obvious as to be ironic. On two accusations, malignant hooliganism, the charges and sentences were vastly disproportional to the incriminated offenses even if they had been true, and one charge, creating mass public disorder, was the first openly political incrimination in the history of the Belarusian dictatorship.

By way of this trial, the dictatorship was sending several signals. An overall signal of intimidation: in Belarus, the ruler alone has the full and unlimited power to punish or forgive at will. The court is just a tool in his hands. A signal to Belarusian ruling bureaucracy: do not ever dare to take independent steps and disagree with the ruler. A signal to democratic leaders: this fate will befall everyone who would attempt an act against the power. A signal to the West: your opinion is of no importance to us. A signal to Russia - just days prior to the world’s leaders gathering there: we have the guts to tell you that our ruler is irreplaceable, do not look for an alternative, do business with us and on our terms. Signal to all democratic activists: we call the shots in this country, you are deprived of all rights. Signal to political parties: only those of you will be allowed to exist and participate in the pretence of the multiparty democracy who play by our rules and lose.

And yet, this demonstrative trial had another side: it is a signal of fear that those at power in Belarus have before the imminent changes. Repressions could postpone change but they cannot stop it. In all of the directions it was signaling the authorities, now celebrating a Pyrrhic victory, will eventually suffer defeat.

An impatience with the regime, percolating inside of the ruling bureaucracy, will continue to grow, if anything out of the survival instinct. A moral and progressive part of the bureaucracy will produce other dissidents, who will take place next to Mr. Kozulin in promoting his and his party’s idea of national accord in the name of changes.

The West, in the end will have to use all measures in its disposal to force the Belarusian regime to count with its opinion. The sharp reaction of officials and civic group in the Western countries against sentencing of Mr. Kozulin is a welcome sign in this direction.

Russian leaders will understand that the geopolitical advantage on the Belarusian direction of the Russia’s policies it its near abroad lies not in the support of the irreplaceable leader but in a democratic process of transfer of power in Belarus, that would ensure consistency and observe the traditions of the close relationship between the two countries.

The democratic movement will learn its lessons, from the electoral campaign of 2006, and from the brutal reprisal against its bravest leader. The various parts of the Belarusian opposition will leave their differences behind and unite, not into formal blocks but in practical, determined yet flexible, program of action. We hope that the sad mistake made by some opposition politicians of accusing Mr. Kozulin of being a “project of power” will not be repeated in relation to anybody else.

The solidarity expressed to Mr. Kozulin by United Civic Party, Popular Front, Party of Communists, Alyaksandr Milinkevich, and many political and civic leaders inspires hope for unification of all progressive movements and is deeply appreciated by Mr. Kozulin’s comrades in our party.

The open democratic opposition and the thinking part of the ruling bureaucracy, effectively an internal hidden opposition, will eventually find a way to build a bridge to each other and having done so will find support in West as well as in the East. This is a general path followed by totalitarian societies, and Belarus is no exception. The regime has already passed the peak of its power and begun the downward slide. The Kozulin trial is a landmark on this path.

The egregious trial of Mr. Kozulin also sends a stark message of reality to those Belarusians who are remote from politics: the court that has no independence, acting on direct orders from above, can be used to repress any person, under any pretext.

BSDP (Hramada) is deeply upset by the imprisonment of Alexander Kozulin. But the party is not demoralized. On the contrary, we are mobilizing our resources, strengthening our organization. The party’s leader is in prison, but he is with the party.

Kozulin is a fighter for justice, both a symbol and a real acting politician who by his example has influenced the country. He is a leader who challenged the authorities, a leader without fear, strong in spirit, courageous and unbroken.

Belarus needed a hero and a national leader, and Belarus found him.