The International Human Rights Center “Nash Dom” is a Belarusian human rights organization dealing with issues of torture, ill-treatment in Belarusian prisons, primarily children, as well as issues of political persecution of children and adolescents (news.house). We work closely with all UN structures, primarily with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Special Rapporteurs. We communicated with you and Mr Zingeris on August, 2020.

We ask you to pay attention to the direct threats made by Oleg Gaidukevich, a member of the delegation of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus for contacts with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, to smuggle the opposition out of Lithuania and Poland in a car boot.

We ask that these words be taken seriously, because Oleg Gaidukevich, Deputy Chairman of the Standing Committee on International Affairs in the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus and member of permanent delegations to inter-parliamentary organisations, was repeatedly seen torturing and beating opposition activists in 2009-2012. This is the official position of the Belarusian authorities and a direct indication that the Belarusian regime is preparing special operations to kidnap people on the territory of the EU.

Oleg Gaidukevich was the head of the Frunzenski District Department of Internal Affairs in Minsk. Between 2009 and 2012 more than a hundred opposition activists passed through the Frunzenski District Police Department, where he worked: guys from “European Belarus”, detained for the 2010 Square, defendants in the “Decembrists’ case”, Young Front activists, social media activists.

On April 19, 2011, as the head of the human rights organization “Nash Dom” and nearly two dozen activists, I was brutally detained in the apartment of human rights activist Valery Shchukin. Valeriy Shchukin’s hands were permanently covered in traces of handcuffs. He spent eight hours barefoot on the concrete floor and then fell seriously ill. They threatened him with physical violence, rape, they said that they would cut off his head and set his beard on fire. All this took place on the orders of Oleg Gaidukevich, head of the Frunzenski district police department. He also  ordered the head of public security at the Frunzenski District Police Department, Dinas Linkus, to deal with Olga Karach. Linkus beat me up and threatened me with rape.

Oleg Gaidukevich led the dispersal of the protest action on July 6, 2011. This was the fifth “silent protest” action against Lukashenka. One of the gathering points was the Ice Palace on Pritytski Street. Already at 20:00 it became known about the detention of at least 20 people here. The people were pushed onto a bus, the windows of which were covered with curtains. On the site itself, plainclothes officers kicked protesters in the face and dragged them along the ground.

In December 2011, on his order, former presidential candidate Vitaly Rymashevski was kidnapped. On that day, he participated in a press conference on the 2010 presidential elections, and after that he drove home. He was detained outside his apartment building by four men in plain clothes. They were not in the uniform of police officers, did not have badges and did not introduce themselves. Rymashevski was put into a blue minibus and taken away. The last message from Vitali was received near the Frunzenski District Department of Internal Affairs. He was kept in the police station for five hours, and during that time he was in handcuffs. He was not charged, they talked to him on abstract topics, without saying either the name or surname of the policeman who detained him.

Oleg Gaidukevich has repeatedly put his threats into practice. His latest statement about smuggling opposition activists in a boot from abroad to the KGB detention centre could well be considered serious.

We’re asking you:

1. Treat Oleg Gaidukevich as a serious international criminal and deprive him of the opportunity to officially represent Belarus at PACE and terminate any contacts and cooperation he has with you as the person in charge of these contacts on behalf of the Belarusian National Assembly of Belarus.
2. Be vigilant about Oleg Gaidukevich’s threats about organizing special operations in the EU and inform the relevant services.
3. Include him in the list of those who cannot travel to the EU as a threat to the life and safety of those who live on the territory of the European Union.

Related articles:

“Our House” and 160 other human rights organizations signed a worldwide letter in support of the Belarusian civil society Nothing is forgotten and nobody is left behind or An Elephant Never Forgets Olga Karach met with Japanese Ambassador to Lithuania Shiro Yamasaki An action of support of the illegally arrested citizen of Lithuania, Jelena Cimbalist, as well as of all political prisoners of Belarus was held in Vilnius Olga Karach: Investigations into Violations of Children Rights in Belarus Should Be a Priority Olga Karach discussed the situation in Belarus with US Ambassador to Lithuania Robert Gilchrist