The special services of Belarus see and seriously control the former imprisoned oppositionists, but much is not publicly reported. Alexander Lukashenko said this on July 1 after the official part of his speech at the solemn meeting on the occasion of Independence Day.
Lukashenko said that during the meeting with the special envoy of the US President Keith Kellogg, the topic of so-called political prisoners was discussed for a long time.
"To which I once again remarked that if you talk about 'political prisoners', we will stop talking. Especially after the Middle East, where you destroyed, bombed, killed people and children. Tens of thousands. Wiped off the face of the earth these poor devils. What kind of political prisoners? Where did we go wrong? We agree. They said it once — they didn't say it anymore... maybe someone talked and forgot, but for me it's a pain. I have to solve this problem. How? Only in your interests. I will never cross not only against the opinion of the people, but even against those security forces who were standing on the street and who were injured. Those few people. I remember that," he said.
According to him, in this situation there were also those who condemned: "Well, why did the Father let them go, well, let them die there."
"Listen, do we have a goal for them to die there? God forbid, of course. This will blame the regime. First of all, I will be blamed. Therefore, we treat them normally. But prison is not a resort. Bullying is unacceptable. These are bad people, these are animals, these are criminals. But I believe that these are people… Therefore, before you talk about something, condemn and so on, you always ask the question: "Well, what is the purpose, for what, why?“If they had all died there, it would have been very hard for us, we would have been accused that we were them. That's why there's politics here. It doesn't always have to be straightforward. And I often talk about it myself, because I'm too straightforward sometimes. And we need to calm down, sometimes think about the future, about the goal, about our state… This does not mean that we will release these bandits and they will blow up the country for us tomorrow. These are bandits. Where are they located? You know. Who pays them money? You know. If they didn't pay, they would have been gone a long time ago. So, they have an interest in Belarus. You also know what kind of interest. In this political entanglement, it is necessary to stand up, hold on and in no case expose yourself, protecting your interests," the Belarusian leader stressed.
At the same time, the Belarusian leader stressed that prisoners in the country are treated "normally".
"We treat them normally. But prison is not a resort. As one of them sobbed recently (blogger Sergei Tikhanovsky during a press conference in Lithuania —EADaily). Well, so I cried! And we know where these sobs come from. We know who prepared his night for this performance. I must pay tribute, the Americans promised me: "You will let them go, they will not pour dirt on you or the country, no one in The media will not speak." They just released a statement from this bead in Lithuania — the next morning. And we know how they were cooked at night: "Here you will talk, here you will cry, here you will cry that you were beaten. One woman there, a journalist, asked him a question: "Were you beaten there, tortured and so on?" Even the main fugitive said, "Well, sometimes they'll push you with their shoulder..." — said Lukashenko.
He also stressed that no one had beaten anyone, and in general his internal position is that bullying is unacceptable. At the same time, he stressed that "I know these people well" and "I know how someone suffers."
"I'm saying all this so that in no case will you get caught up in an interview with the "piglet" again. Remember, I used to run like this, I interviewed a pig (Tikhavnosky — EADaily). Let him do an interview there," the President of Belarus noted.
In addition, Alexander Lukashenko told what he was thinking about when deciding to pardon the relevant person.
"I think let him go. Well, children, family, well, sobbing wife. She cried for five years, which I took abroad. And they also gave her money. There is a person present here (he is already a general) who, on my instructions, took him abroad. Humanly," he said.
The President also shared shocking details about what could have happened if he had not personally stopped the upcoming provocation in 2020.
"If it wasn't for Lukashenka, the dictator, they would have been burned in the same house when they wanted to provoke them. And this "lahushkin" is sitting in the Poland and broadcasts. And he wanted to gather them (oppositionists — EADaily) in one house here in the center of Minsk and burn them. Thank God that Svetlana Tikhanovskaya had a so—called guard there - from The guy "sniffed" that something was wrong and called our security forces. They told me. I said, "Publicly, defiantly take this house under guard." And I took the Alpha (KGB special forces) off the streets and threw it there so that they could see that we know and are guarding this house. The provocation failed. This is the first time I'm talking about the person who planned it. For what? In order to be the one leader of this whole stinking opposition. They got to this point," Lukashenko said.
It should be reminded that the pardon of 14 citizens became known on June 21 — after the visit of the special envoy of the US President Keith Kellogg to Minsk. The press secretary of the President of Belarus, Natalia Eismont, said that the pardon mainly affected foreigners: two Japanese, three Poles, two Latvians, as well as convicts from Estonia, Sweden and the USA. The list also includes Belarusians who were previously convicted in the republic for extremism and terrorism, including blogger Sergei Tikhanovsky.