The Belarusian regime is tenaciously adopting all the worst practices of the Soviet regime, including public kangaroo courts and show trial over those who want to be different from the rest. It is not just humiliation of jurisprudence per se, it is also a deliberate incitement of hatred in the society.

In May, several show trials of conscripts took place in district courts of Gomel region. The most notorious case is when the court sentenced a resident of Loev to three months of arrest for not appearing in the military conscription and enlistment office after having received a draft notice. All the trials were held according to the same scenario: conscripts were herd into the court room, and the regime’s propagandists issues a reportage with threats for evading conscription in different district newspapers and local TV channels.

For now, neither the number of such trials held in recent days, nor any other details are known. One of the reasons is disparity and inaccuracies in the data of the regime’s mass media. The other reason is that obviously the series of such trials is not over yet.

According to some observers, such efforts of the regime’s apparatus may indicate problems with attendance of the draftees. Indeed, judging by unofficial data, that we have at our disposal, even in a traditionally obedient and apolitical Belarusian province, more and more young men are consciously ignoring the regime’s efforts to send them to military service. It can be assumed that the problem turned out to be most pressing in Gomel region, that is why they started practicing the show judicial proceeding over objectors there.

However, even if the reason is different, the situation is highly symptomatic anyway. Show trials over undesirable with the purpose of intimidation of potentially “unreliable” people is a long-standing practice of the worst communist regimes. Such as the Soviet, the Chinese, the Cambodian ones, and so on. It should be said, that such practices were really efficient in keeping a tight rein on people. Another thing is that they have never given any incentives for development of a country.

However, it looks like the development bothers the Belarusian enforcers and other supporters of Lukashenka least of all. For now, they are just thrilled they are let to bring to life their own perverted dreams about “paradise lost” – about the USSR in its worst manifestations.

Few of them understand that while such people hold to power, the country has no future at all.

Our House

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