Faced with the repression that rages more than ever in the Belarus of Alexandre Loukachenko, thousands of dissidents had no choice but to take the road to exile. But there are many who have not abandoned their fight.
by Hélène welcome (Warsaw, Correspondence)
Attendance at a cafe held by a Polish dissident of the Communist era, Youri Ravovoire, a trade unionist who had left his native Belarus in September 2020, tracked by the KGB, would never have thought to be in Poland two years later. Like hundreds of thousands of Belarusians at the time, this young dad then denounced the fraudulent elections of August 2020 and expected that the dictator Alexandre Loukachenko yields under the pressure of the street. This trade unionist had even set up a strike committee within Grodno Azot, the fertilizer plant where he was employed. But, faced with the repression that rages more than ever in the Belarus of Alexandre Loukachenko, thousands of dissidents like him have no choice but to take the road to exile. Like the human rights center, Viasna, now based in Lithuania. Its founder, Ales Bialiatski, was unable to attend the ceremony for the presentation of his Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Saturday December 10. And for good reason: he has been imprisoned since 2021, as more than 1,400 political prisoners, reports his organization. In two years, NGOs, media and independent unions have been neutralized one after the other and their arrested managers.
Those who have been forced to settle abroad have not abandoned their fight. But geographic distance and prudence required to avoid the imprisonment of colleagues who have remained in the country make their task particularly difficult. Some, like Youri Ravovoi, had to be changed. “In the spring of 2021, we understood that we would never get the many strikers necessary for a new movement, and that we should rather help those who needed them to obtain visas and settle abroad. “
This 29 -year -old Belarusian had the chance to find a job that suits him as a glove: he is now an employee of the international department of the Polish union Solidarnosc. His attachment union, the independent Belarusian union, was prohibited by the Minsk regime in April 2022. And its leader was sentenced to five years of penitentiary colony in November 2022. A blow for youri Ravovo Organize financial support to families of around thirty trade unionists behind bars. 2> “heavy prison sentences”
In his fight for a democratic Belarus, this engineer does not hesitate to use his workers’ comrades within state businesses. “They cannot protest, but they can collect information,” he said maliciously. He wants as proof the information provided by the railway workers which notably made it possible to hinder the circulation of Russian troops passing through Belarus in the direction of Ukraine, at the start of the war.
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