{"id":10453,"date":"2021-01-19T16:00:01","date_gmt":"2021-01-19T16:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=151926"},"modified":"2021-01-19T16:00:01","modified_gmt":"2021-01-19T16:00:01","slug":"leaked-belarusian-audio-points-to-plan-for-barbed-wire-bound-camp-for-protesters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/01\/19\/leaked-belarusian-audio-points-to-plan-for-barbed-wire-bound-camp-for-protesters\/","title":{"rendered":"Leaked Belarusian Audio Points To Plan For Barbed-Wire-Bound ‘Camp’ For Protesters"},"content":{"rendered":"
Arrests, beatings, forced exile, and even death. Belarusians have paid a high price for raising their voices in opposition since authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka claimed a landslide victory and a sixth presidential term in an August 2020 election that hundreds of thousands of citizens contend was stolen.<\/p>\n
And now a leaked audio recording has emerged of what is said to be a senior Belarusian Interior Ministry official discussing plans to build an internment camp — complete with barbed wire — for political prisoners.<\/p>\n
That’s not all: The person speaking also urges officers to use a more lethal weapon against protesters, assuring them they will face no repercussions if they do, and apparently admitting that a unarmed civilian killed at a demonstration in Minsk in August was in fact shot at close range with a rubber bullet by riot police.<\/p>\n
The recording was downloaded to social-media sites including YouTube<\/a><\/strong> on January 15 by the By_Pol Initiative, a grouping of former Belarusian security and justice officials and officers who have abandoned Lukashenka and switched over to the opposition<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n Belarus has witnessed unprecedented and unflagging protests since the disputed August 9 election, which have been met by brutal government repression. Lukashenka, 66, finds himself facing growing international isolation, as Western governments, including the United States, Canada, and the European Union, refuse to acknowledge him as the legitimate leader of Belarus, slapping him and senior officials with sanctions for their perceived roles in rigging the election and in the continuing crackdown.<\/p>\n