Belarusian Generation Y logbook

This blog was created to promote Belarus from different sides, with the intention to overcome the stereotype that there is only “the dictatorship side”. Unfortunately, sad news demand writing an article offering other than positive news.
A week ago  human rights activist Yana Paliakova committed suicide after the Salihorsk court sentenced her to two years of freedom limitation with compulsory work. There is no clear version why and how did she do that, but the most accepted opinion is that she could not bare the oppression from the side of local police and KGB which included frequent arrests, physical violence and threatening. The announcement of the sentence last week seemed to be the last drop, because she kept repeating “i am not going to be a prisoner”.

Yana tried to make a policeman responsible for beating her up in a police-station. However, when the prosecution did not respond to her calls, the policeman sued her for “false-witnessing against an officer” and in a short period of time the court sentenced her to 2,5 years in a labour colony – a form of imprisonment, when a person is kept in a special place and is obliged to fulfill compulsory work he/she is assigned to (normally different kinds of physical work). It is worth mentioning that representatives of human rights organizations have pointed out a large amount of procedural mistakes that happened during the case. However, Yana did not plan to protest against the court decision in higher institutions, because she did not believe that any other Belarusian court would rule differently. After the court she just kept repeating “I will not be a prisoner”.

Sad story, which is luckily an exception in modern Belarus, because most  people who end up in such circumstances find enough support to avoid suicide. What drew my attention in this case is an article which was published in the biggest state newspaper one day before the suicide. “Sovetskaya Belorussiya” (“Soviet Belorussia” – what a symbolic name!) is a symbol of propaganda in Belarus, together with the news on TV and radio. And it is being used properly for its purpose. All these channels write about “the other side of Belarus” (political opposition, NGOs, human rights organizations, expelled students etc.) and make sure that the silent majority receives that kind of news in a proper light.

In the article the author with the example of Yana proves that in modern Belarus every villain tries to cover him/herself with the image of a political regime victim. The policeman is shown as a good guy whose activities could never be doubted and Yana was just a usual weirdo from the opposition, who came up with an idea to false-witness against the brave policeman while lying on her sofa and drinking expresso… The author suggests that the bruises which Yana blamed on a policeman were probably recieved while she was drunk and hit herself… And the article goes on in the same tone.

“Usual propaganda. Why take it seriously?” you would say. This is complete absence of journalistic ethics that outrage me most in this. Yana probably read that article as well and that might have pushed her closer to the idea of suicide. The Belarusian association of journalists has always been raising the problem of journalists’ code of conduct and journalism education in Belarus. I cannot possibly imagine what kind of person could create such a vicious pamphlet twisting the story so hard. Not surprisingly the article is signed by an obviously false name. What kind of code is this person following in his/her journalistic practice, knowing that articles like that will reach millions of people (“Sovetskaya Belorussiya” is THE biggest newspaper in Belarus) and can influence  public opinion.  Does that person feel guilty now after Yana’s death one day after the article was published? I hope so, but most probably  not, because obviously power has blinded those people too much to think of ethics, code of conduct, morale, or other people. And hardly a human death would unblind them. Unfortunately.