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Presidential challenger Tsikhanouskaya leaves country as Belarusian media broadcast strange video

byAlya Shandra
11/08/2020
10 minute read
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the undeclared winner of the Belarusian presidential election, was forced to flee the country on 11 August; that same day, Belarusian state TV broadcast a video where she asks her supporters to stop protesting the rigged election and accept Lukashenka’s falsified victory. Photo: snapshot from video
Presidential challenger Tsikhanouskaya leaves country as Belarusian media broadcast strange video
The unexpected challenger to dictator Lukashenka's sixth reelection has suddenly left Belarus amid record protests against electoral fraud; at the same time, she released two very strange videos. One of them, where she reads a statement from a paper, urging protesters to cease the protests against a rigged vote, was broadcast on state media. What in the world could have made Tsikhanouskaya change her mind so suddenly?
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the unexpected challenger to Belarusian incumbent dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka, was forced to flee the country after two days of unprecedented protests against the rigged election that stole her victory. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius tweeted this morning that she is safely in Belarus, and later gave a press conference where he told that Tsiakhanouskaya hadn't any other choice than to leave Belarus as she was pressured by the authorities, that the authorities helped her leave the country, and that she was safely reunited with her children, who were already in Lithuania. Shortly thereafter, the undeclared victor in the immensely rigged presidential election who had two days before declared that she does not recognize the official tally that awarded Lukashenka with a stupefying 80.08% and that she will fight for the truth with legal means, released a video where she looks visibly distressed. It has been translated by The Guardian below:
"You know, I thought that this whole campaign toughened me up very much and gave me so much strength that I could stand everything. But, probably, I remained the weak woman I initially was. I made a very difficult decision for myself. I made this decision absolutely independently - neither friends, nor relatives, nor the headquarters, nor Sergey in any way could simply influence it. And I know that many will understand me, many will condemn me, and many will hate me. But, you know, God forbid you to face the choice which I faced. Therefore, people, take care of yourself, please - no life is a good price for what is happening now. Children are the most important thing in our life. "
Commenting to The Guardian, Linkevicius confirmed that Tsikhanouskaya had come to Lithuania together with her campaign manager Maria Moroz, who had been in detention since 8 August. The video came as a shock to Belarusians who had been awakened from decades of political slumber by the campaign of Tsikhanouskaya. The housewife who had no ambitions in politics had taken the place of her husband Siarhei Tsikhanouski, a YouTube blogger who was detained and disqualified on alleged procedural grounds. Two other competitors to incumbent Lukashenka, banker Viktar Babaryka and ex-diplomat Valery Tsapkala, had been similarly disqualified from participating in the election.
After the arrest/disqualification of all of Lukashenka's contenders, Sviatlana Tsekhanouskaya (in the middle), the wife of one of them, registered instead; she was joined by campaigns of the other two disqualified candidates. Photo: electoral HQ of Viktar Babaryka
The campaigns of the three precluded candidates pulled resources around Tsikhanouskaya, and managed to win over the hearts and minds of Belarusians, pushing them on the 26th year of Lukashenka's reign to decide that they finally had enough. In the days that followed the announcement of the official improbable results, Belarusians nationwide took to the streets of their cities in thousands, demanding a fair count and release of political prisoners. At least two have died in the clashes with riot police that continued from each evening into the early morning. Law enforcers used stun grenades, tear gas, water cannons, and rubber bullets - which for Belarus is unprecedented violence during protests. In the rallies on Monday evening, protesters were already making barricades and blocked the streets with artificial traffic jams so police vehicles did not get through. The protest is decentralized and mostly coordinated through a network of popular Telegram channels which issue instructions and urge people to protest. Telegram channels were the ones who called the people to protest in the first place - Tsikhanouskaya did not join them.
Protesters stand with interlinked arms while holding their ground against the advance of the riot police. Photo: tut.by
As OMON forces in some places started reportedly joining the protesters' side, it started to seem that the street has the momentum - and determination - to win. So a second video with Tsikhanouskaya which was broadcast on state TV when it became known that she was in Lithuania was especially disparaging. Sitting on a couch, Tsikhanouskaya read a statement from paper, urging to stop the protests:
I, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, thank you for participating in the presidential election. The people of Belarus have made their choice. With gratitude and warmth, I appeal to all the citizens who have supported me. Belarusians! I urge you to be prudent and respect the law. I don’t want blood and violence. I ask you not to confront the police, not to go out to the square, so as not to endanger your life. Take care of yourself and your loved ones."
Internet users soon identified that the couch on which Tsikhanouskaya sat is located in the office of Lidiya Yermoshyna, the Head of the Central Election Commission, the very institution falsifying elections in Belarus so Lukashenka could stay in power since 2000. It was there that Tsikhanouskaya had been held against her will on Monday for more than three hours when she came to appeal the results of the election. Afterward, she left the building without her lawyer, saying that she "made a decision." Apparently, the video was recorded at that time, and the energetic opposition leader must have been told or shown something that led to this transformation. What was this something? We might never know, but it's worth considering that her husband, Siarhei, is imprisoned and that the regime of Lukashenka will stop at little in order to stay in power. Tut.by, an independent Belarusian media, published (on Telegram, as Lukashenka blocked the websites of opposition media and internet in general) a comment of her senior associate, Mariya Kalesnikava. Kalesnikava believes that Tsikhanovskaya made the statement under duress. When they were in the Central Election Commission, Tsikhanovskaya was taken away in a separate room and for three hours conversed with two high-ranking officials from the law enforcement organs. At some moment, people with black bags with what appears like video cameras inside came into the room. Kalesnikava said she supports Tsikhanovskaya's decision: "I can't even imagine how much it cost her to make this decision. Sviatlana, if you hear me, I support you, you are a hero, you did a lot for the Belarusian people,"
she told, explaining that a person who for three hours is left alone in a room with law enforcement representatives can be pressured to read aloud any text.
"If I was in her situation, maybe I could have been forced as well. I think it's very difficult to make statements not under duress after three hours with law enforcement representatives when you have children, when you have a husband with an open criminal case, when your friends and supporters are in prison and you don't know anything about them for several days, like Mariya Moroz, when all your surroundings and family are hostages," Kalesnikava stated.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda is of the same opinion:

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"No sane person would believe that Ms. Tsikhanouskaya's video statements were made of her own free will. This is just another proof of the methods used to break the spirit of man and nation.We have witnessed these methods in the last few weeks," he posted on Facebook.

A standard move

It turns out that Tsikhanouskaya's story is business as usual in Belarus. A BBC article has summarized the episodes. After a protest demonstration following Lukashenka's (standard) rigged re-election was dispersed on 19 December 2010, 700 protesters and seven out of 10 presidential candidates were detained. On the morning following the dispersal, state-controlled media broadcast a "confession" of presidential contender Yaroslav Romanchuk, who read a text stating that an unapproved rally in central Minsk was organized by opposition politicians Andrei Sannikov and Nikolai Statkevich. "Thousands of lives were endangered," said Romanchuk. "I, as a presidential candidate, condemn calls for actions that violate the peaceful nature of mass actions." Similar "confessions" were heard from Andrei Dmitriev, who worked in the HQ of presidential candidate Neklyaev. The problem is that at the time of the "confessions," Neklyaev, Sannikov, and Statkevich, and other leaders of opposition groups were already in the KGB remand prison. Neklyaev was dragged away to it during the night from a hospital bed. Opposition politician Ales Mikhailevich once called a press conference after being released from the KGB remand prison and tore apart a document, saying he is tearing apart an agreement to collaborate with the KGB that he was forced to sign in the prison. The KGB was not amused -Mikhailevich has a criminal case opened against him regarding organizing "mass unrest" to this very day.

Where does this leave the protests?

According to Franak Viacorka, a Belarusian journalist and expert, Tsikhanouskaya's departure has dealt a blow to the protest movement.
"What they did tell her? That can be related to her family, her husband. They could promise not to shoot people if she flees. KGB always has something to use against you. In 2010 they made presidential candidates and opposition speak against each other and beg Lukashenka for pardon," Viacorka writes. "The authorities achieved their primary goals — to divide protesters from Tsikhanouskaya. Though she never called people to streets, most people go out primarily in her support. When she is in Lithuania - it can play a demobilizing effect and decrease the scale of resistance."
UPDATE. Later in the day, Tsikhanouskaya's HQ released a statement in support of further protests:
"We support everyone who protests against falsifications and fights for their rights in peaceful ways. We stand in solidarity with everyone who defends their right to a better future for themselves and their children. We are against violence and we ask the authorities not to use violence against civilians. We propose to start a dialogue on the peaceful transfer of power to the people without violence and upheaval. Tsikhanouskaya's headquarters."

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