Statkevich on Informers: They Will Betray Even Those Who Help Them
The ex-political prisoner in his Telegram channel reflected on the fate of informers in prison and whether they should be provided material assistance upon release from prison.
"One of my acquaintances, who lives outside Belarus, asked for my opinion on a question being discussed online – whether human rights activists should provide material assistance to former political prisoners who collaborated with the administration in prison and informed on other political prisoners. In short, they were 'snitches,' as they are called," the politician posed the question.
"In my opinion, this question is primarily for the donors who fund this assistance, and by what criteria they set it should be distributed.
But it must be taken into account that although in prison inmates usually know those who 'go to headquarters' to operational officers, because it's hard to hide such things there, testimonies are needed from at least several inmates with a good reputation. Because in such matters, false accusations are also possible due to personal animosity.
And the 'services' also like to play such games. For example, often the sources of rumors about someone's alleged 'collaboration' with the KGB are KGB 'secret informants'.
But the biggest problem is not this. If someone becomes even a minor 'informer' in prison to improve their situation, they get hooked for life. If it's an ordinary criminal, then after release, information about their 'informing' is transferred to the District Internal Affairs Department (RAUS) at their place of residence. There, they are forced to continue informing on their acquaintances and friends to the local police. And it happens that such people are 'led' to 'political' cases as well. Files on released 'informers' who informed on their comrades in prison are transferred to the KGB.
They can be made 'secret informants' before release. Then they are also found abroad, because the Internet allows it, and are offered to continue 'cooperation.' If they refuse, their relatives who remained in Belarus are threatened, or video evidence of their informing in prison is threatened to be published online.
If a former 'informer' or 'secret informant' agrees, they then become a 'spy' for a foreign state in their country of residence. And that means — a criminal under local laws with the prospect of new imprisonment. This is the fate destined for 'informers' — those who decided to improve their situation at the cost of worsening it for others.
The main problem is not whether to provide assistance to those who have been exposed as 'informers,' but in the safety of those human rights activists who organize this assistance for them and their relatives back home. Because people who have gone down this path from 'informers' to 'spies' no longer have moral restraints — they will betray even those who help them.
Well, let human rights activists decide for themselves how to work with such people. As for the rest, I recommend staying as far away from such people as possible," writes Mikalai Statkevich.