Puppet Justice
And so it went – a puppet court protecting an unelected member of a puppet parliament. Welcome to Belarus, a country where the time stood still. During the run up to this ridiculous trial we were trying to give you, our friends and people who are not indifferent to freedom in Belarus, accurate fact-based updates. Now, however, we allow ourselves a few comments.
- First of all, we thank all our friends, in and outside Belarus, for their support – international solidarity was amazing and effective. It clearly raised awareness about the regime’s repression against independent media and is a good model to be used in future cases of repression
- The fine against Alexander Tamkovich was significantly reduced from $50,000 to $500. If not professional support provided by the lawyers from Belarusian Association of Journalists, solidarity with Novy Chas of all independent media in Belarus and international campaign, the suit would have been satisfied as claimed
- The damages against the paper were reduced from $250,000 to $25,000 – this is still enough to put it out of business, but at least is a sign that this repression shouldn’t be just accepted
- International attention is drawn to the true situation in Belarus, just as its government is trying to become friendly with Europe
- Using the same tactics against remaining independent publications might be more difficult
- There is a clear demonstration that the Civil Code of Belarus actually reads “any criticism of public officials, grounded in facts or not, no matter how harsh or soft, is punishable by heavy fines.” Public officials in Belarus are beyond criticism
- Charhinets’ (Cherginets) honor went down in price tenfold. Do you know anybody else whose honor is more volatile than the global stock markets?
- When the article came out, less than 10,000 readers read about Charhinets. All of them were in Belarus and very few in position of authority. Many of them already knew what he was about. Now thousands of people outside Belarus know who he is, and what he is worth – and we don’t mean 25,000 dollars.
Of course, we hoped for, but did not expect, a different result. How could this court dismiss the frivolous suit of a man who received “The KGB Medal” on the day of the trial? Doing so would mean that the regime officials are no longer protected from public scrutiny. And without this shield, they would fall – if Belarus were a normal country, they would have not become senior officials. For they do not know how to work on real issues – the only know how to survive in the world of servitude, betrayal and indignity.
In Belarusian, there is a saying “about the dead say either good things or nothing.” Apparently, Charhinets (Cherginets) wants the same treatment. Perhaps he is right –hundreds of other servants of a zombie regime are already dead.
