Aliaksandr Milinkevich: Increased pressure from the authorities on the civil society deprives our country of a civilized future

The Movement for Freedom (the MFF) leader thinks the practices of brutal crackdown of peaceful actions, pressure on national minorities, and persecution of independent media are completely unproductive for building relationships with the civilized world.

 

“With their repressive actions, the authorities contribute to the isolation of our country which will have a very negative influence primarily on the lives of common citizens of Belarus. The countries of the united Europe which were the first to give a helping hand to the Belarusian state − namely, provided significant support amid severe economic crisis − now have to make a hard choice after the inadequate steps of the official Minsk. The European Union won’t support a country in which totalitarian trends intensify”, Milinkevich thinks.

 

For reference – Recently, the authorities have increased pressure on independent media (an attempt of search at the office of the Belsat TV channel, a fine for the Narodnaya Vola newspaper, and a warning to the Belarusian Association of Journalists); cruelly disrupted the action on February 8 dedicated to the next year of businessman Leanid Autukhovich’s stay behind the bars; using violence, apprehended the participants of the action arranged by the Young Front youth movement and dedicated to the Saint Valentine's Day; as well as exerted unprecedented pressure on the non-governmental Belarusian Poles’ Union (BPU) and performed mass unlawful apprehensions of the BPU members who were going to Ivianets town to support their friends in court.
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