Hunger strikes, overturned police cars, blood, Yeltsin frees political prisoners — recalling the events of the Chernobyl Way-1996
The series of street protests in 1996 is commonly known as the "hot spring," as the most massive actions occurred precisely during this time — Freedom Day, the confrontation against the signing of the agreement on the creation of the union of Belarus and Russia, and the Chernobyl Way.
Previously, we already recalled how it all began. The first falsifications, the first political prisoners, the first blood on the streets of the independent republic, the first exiled politicians — Belarusians defended their right to be called people 30 years ago, and one of the most massive actions then was the Chernobyl Way. The history of the Viasna Human Rights Center began with it.
Together with witnesses of those events, we recall what the Chernobyl Way-1996 was like, which gathered about 50,000 people on the central streets of Minsk.
Chernobyl Way-1996. Photo: vytoki.net
"They are the same — Lukashenka and Pazniak"
After the protests on Freedom Day in 1996, about 30 people were detained, and a criminal case was initiated against the entire leadership of the BPF. Many were forced into hiding, and Zianon Pazniak and Siarhei Navumchyk left the country after hints about a desire to "liquidate" them.
The latter was quite critically reacted to by both state propaganda and some like-minded individuals. Some reported that the politicians were not in danger and had made everything up, while others mocked their escape.
"They are the same — Lukashenka and Pazniak. One stubbornly revives the USSR, the other — the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. There was no leader at the rally on April 2 — he went to tell Europe about the situation in Belarus. What can you do: the costs of the profession — making revolutions while sitting in prosperous, democratic Europe," wrote Aliaksandr Fiaduta in the "Belarusian Business Newspaper."
Screenshot from Siarhei Navumchyk's book "Ninty-Six"
Operation: Return to the Homeland
April 26 was approaching, and Pazniak and Navumchyk themselves gradually came to the conclusion that they needed to return to Belarus. Moreover, it seemed that the regime's aggression towards the opposition had seemingly decreased, and their tasks abroad were completed — the politicians had held a series of meetings with European leaders and journalists, discussing the situation in Belarus.
It was planned that they would return to their homeland as a duo, but here Pazniak showed authoritarianism and ordered Navumchyk to stay abroad as a backup. This, of course, caused resentment between the colleagues, but the order was ultimately not violated.
Zianon Pazniak with protesters on the Chernobyl Way. Photo: vytoki.net
From the memoirs of Zianon Pazniak:
"From Brest to Minsk, Halina Navumchyk and I left on the evening of April 25. On the road and at the Minsk train station, they couldn't catch me; I even managed to shake off the 'tails' in the city, and no one knew exactly where I went or where I stayed."
For Lukashenka's opponent, everything was going perfectly (and this despite the fact that in Brest, the politician was recognized on the platform, and people immediately rushed to offer notebooks and tickets for autographs, which attracted the attention of the police).
"Enough with the liberalism"
The same cannot be said about the Chernobyl Way itself and its participants. No one then understood the indescribable brutality with which the action was dispersed. Only later did it become clear — to intimidate, so that any further protests would be met with a "no," and so it would be for a certain time.
The police blocked Skaryna Avenue with cars, thereby, as many witnesses believe, deliberately provoking a conflict. People began to overturn cars, and this, in turn, unleashed the hands of the security forces — batons, tear gas, hundreds were beaten bloody. They were caught not only on the avenue, but also in squares and courtyards, in the metro and at bus stops — sometimes ordinary passers-by fell into their hands.
Photo: vytoki.net
Despite the number of injured and detained on April 26, Lukashenka criticized the security forces at a meeting regarding the incident, calling their reaction "liberalism." Moreover, the police failed to achieve their main objective: to apprehend Pazniak.
Zianon Pazniak was hunted from the moment of his return to Minsk. However, thanks to a dozen bodyguards (and the sheer number of participants in the procession), they did not dare to snatch him directly from the crowd. The politician even managed to deliver a speech near the Palace of Sports.
From the memoirs of Zianon Pazniak:
"Already during the speech at the Palace of Sports, it became known that the KGB had decided to arrest me immediately after the rally. I left by minivan for the Front's headquarters. With me were Yury Khadyka and seven bodyguards. Behind us, riot police buses followed. Near the intersection, the riot police tried to overtake us to block our 'RAFik.' But a small dog unexpectedly ran out from under their bus's wheels, and the driver instinctively braked. We drove through a yellow light, while our pursuers stopped before a red one. Many matters were resolved at the headquarters. All the time we held our meetings, discussions, and negotiations, two riot police buses stood on the street under the windows. Somewhere between 10 and 11 PM, the storming began."
Activists managed to leave the building through a hole in the fence. Zianon Pazniak was secretly taken to a safe apartment, where he remained until May 8. His associates were less fortunate. Yury Khadyka and Viachaslau Siuchyk were particularly targeted. The former was taken in the morning of the 27th, the latter — on the day of the protest itself.
Khadyka, Zakharanka, Karpenka. Photo: novychas.online
Hunger Strike, Resuscitation, Yeltsin
Viachaslau Siuchyk was coordinating Pazniak's evacuation from the Palace of Sports, and when he finished this process, he headed towards one of the activists' cars. The politician recalls seeing movement towards him but did not realize he would be immediately detained.
"People in civilian clothes took me — harshly, with the intention of injuring me immediately," Viachaslau describes. Despite his beaten state at the police station, he managed to outwit the duty officer by using his respectable appearance — he had just bought a new suit and raincoat the day before. Siuchyk managed to call his BPF colleagues, and they sent him a lawyer.
"She managed to get inside the police station because there was such a huge mess, as people were being brought in, and all the police officers were mobilized. But there was an immediate order 'do not let her in,' and two officers simply carried her out onto the street. Although this is not provided for by any laws, naturally," our interlocutor says. "I was thrown into Akrestsin Street detention center. On May 1, I was sentenced. To transfer to a criminal case, I was taken to the prosecutor's office, then to a temporary detention facility for three days, then to a pre-trial detention center."
Almost immediately after their arrest, both Yury Khadyka and Viachaslau Siuchyk declared a hunger strike. After 21 days of fasting without preparation, the latter ended up in intensive care: his kidneys failed. A few days later, Khadyka also ended up in the same hospital. The politicians were recognized as the first political prisoners of independent Belarus.
Journalist Siarhei Navumchyk notes: "While Yuras Viktaravich already had some experience and was prepared for a hunger strike, Slava simply found himself on the brink of life and death. He truly behaved heroically; for me, he is a hero of that time along with every one of those tens of thousands of Belarusians who came out to defend the Independence of their homeland."
Viachaslau Siuchyk in the Republican Hospital for Convicts. Photo from a May 1996 issue of the newspaper "Narodnaya Volya".
"I was absolutely outraged by everything that was happening, and even more so not by how I was treated, but how others were," says Viachaslau Siuchyk. "In our cell, one of the board secretaries had broken ribs. And it was very visible, although usually they hit you in a way that the bruises are not visible.
And I perfectly understood my responsibility — if they broke me, the repression would be total. For me, the most important thing then was to stop the violence that had begun against the Belarusian people. And we won then. People sewed our surnames, Khadyka's and mine, onto their clothes; there were many actions in Belarus in our support. The world elite also supported us. It was a different time: diplomacy played a big role then, and we were released against Lukashenka's will. Lukashenka did not want this."
It is believed that Yury Khadyka and Viachaslau Siuchyk, who were accused of organizing mass riots as the заявителей (declarants/organizers) of the action, were released after Lukashenka received a call from Yeltsin, who ordered the case to be closed. But everything played a role here: the time itself, the dictator's fears, and international attention. As a result, the activists were not even brought to court.
Birth of Solidarity and "Viasna"
In total, about 200 people were detained in Minsk during the "Chernobyl Way." Both they and their relatives, most of whom faced the arrest of a loved one for the first time in their lives, needed help.
In this new situation, a group of people organized to collect and disseminate information, as well as provide material assistance: finding money and food for those imprisoned. This group worked for almost a month, entirely on a voluntary basis. Among its participants was Ales Bialiatski — it was from the events of 1996 that the Viasna Human Rights Center, which he heads, grew, and unfortunately, 30 years later, it still cannot complain about a lack of work.
"For more than two years I was a volunteer human rights defender, because until the autumn of 1998 I worked as the director of the Maksim Bahdanovich Museum. Museum staff, my friends… they joined our work to help the detained. They helped sort food for the families of prisoners directly into plastic bags with the museum's image," says Ales Bialiatski, who himself would become a political prisoner in the future, and he and his family would then be helped.
He emphasizes that Belarusians already showed incredible solidarity then:
"I myself walked at rallies among people with a large plastic bag and collected 'bunnies' (slang for small amounts of money/coins) for help, and it amounted to a whole bag."
Despite the fact that the Chernobyl Way is impossible in today's Belarus, and Viasna's work does not diminish, political scientists call the protests in spring 1996 one of the greatest successes of the Belarusian nation.
"The protests of 1996 genuinely thwarted Russia's imperial plans," Viachaslau Siuchyk states. "They all thought at that moment that we had been defeated. And in principle, these thoughts are constantly tried to be imposed on us. This is an absolute lie. Belarusians have not given up today, just as they did not give up 30 years ago."
"First we were occupied by the Russian Empire, then by the communist USSR. This is a huge period, several generations. Such a thing cannot but affect the mentality. The 'Russian world' cannot be instantly dispelled from consciousness even with state efforts to do so — and today the state apparatus, on the contrary, imposes it. Our path will still be very long and very difficult. I myself have determined that I will most likely not live to see a free Belarus. But I do not doubt for a second that Belarus will eventually be truly independent and democratic," comments Siarhei Navumchyk.
Comments
Нават ніводнага акту прыватнай вендэты па выніках 2020.