The Belarusian opposition is preparing for lustration

Svetlana Tikhanovskaya’s office presented the Concept of lustration for Belarus for discussion. A mechanism is proposed to restrict access to public service for representatives of the current government. Political emigrants should discuss how fair it seems to them. Meanwhile, experts from the Center for New Ideas, who have prepared a report on the possible transit of power in Belarus, say that the opposition has a chance only if the West is actively involved in this process.

The head of the Joint Transitional Cabinet, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, offered representatives of the Belarusian political emigration an exciting activity – to discuss the Concept of lustration. The opposition leader’s Telegram channel reports: “Svetlana Tikhanovskaya’s office is offering a public discussion on the Concept of Lustration, a document that takes into account the scale of repression, the lack of independent justice, and the threat of authoritarian revenge.”

First of all, the authors of this document have identified the time frame that is at the center of their attention. The first period of activity of officials subject to lustration inspection is still the time of the Soviet government: from January 1, 1919 to December 26, 1991. And the second one is called the time of “authoritarian rule.”

The document notes: “The key moment defining the beginning of this period was the decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus dated December 29, 1995 on compliance with the norms of presidential decrees.” By this order, the Cabinet of Ministers and other state bodies were instructed to ensure the unconditional implementation of the presidential decrees listed in the order, which were considered by the Constitutional Court and were found to be fully or partially inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of the Republic of Belarus.

Lustration is designed to create a mechanism for restricting access to public service for representatives of the current elite. However, the authors of the document chose an approach that does not involve a total verification of everyone’s trustworthiness. This means that citizens applying to occupy a certain position in the government system must undergo a comprehensive check for this.

These are the following positions: judges; employees of correctional institutions, law enforcement agencies and state security agencies; senior and middle officers of the armed forces; executive officials; rectors, their deputies and deans of state universities; heads, editors-in-chief, editors of state media departments and their deputies; CEC members, chairmen, their deputies and secretaries of territorial and precinct election commissions; members of parliament; of course, the president himself. Well, and the persons conducting lustration themselves.

Tikhanovskaya’s associates have compiled an impressive list. However, they emphasize that they have abandoned prohibitive lustration, which would apply generally to all officials who worked in the system of Alexander Lukashenko. And we must think, not out of humanitarianism, but simply based on the understanding that then all trained managers would have to be cut off. The latter will have to fill out an appropriate declaration if they wish to take up a particular position. And the compliance of its points with reality is what the lustrators intend to check.

Leonid Morozov, Tikhanovskaya’s legal adviser, explains on one of the opposition Internet resources: “The self-declaration model was chosen after analyzing the experience of neighboring countries and the practice of the European Court of Human Rights. Strict prohibitive measures often lead to violations of international standards. Moreover, if we talk about the prohibitive model, it is applicable when the group that will be subjected to lustration is clear.”

It is planned to create a special structure for lustration – the Institute of National Memory (INP). Morozov notes: “This is the next stage of the whole concept of transitional justice. We have started work on this block, but it takes time. First, we need to decide what principles we want to live by. It is also worth bearing in mind that the INP, in addition to lustration, will have the authority to compensate victims and to work with historical memory. Lustration is just one of the functions of such an institution.”

Meanwhile, in parallel with the beginning of the discussion around the Concept of lustration, the analytical group Center for New Ideas published a report that examines scenarios for a possible transit of power. The founder of the center, Grigory Astapenya, explained the relevance of the study on one of the opposition resources: “It is obvious that Lukashenko would like to rule as long as possible. But on the other hand, his actions – the creation of the All–Belarusian People’s Assembly, the increased talk that “I should leave already” – indicate that this topic is on the agenda.”

Among those who, according to researchers, will play a significant role in a possible transit, they name First Deputy Prime Minister Nikolai Snopkov, Prime Minister Alexander Turchin, head of the presidential administration Dmitry Krutoy and even the president’s sons. Meanwhile, the expert notes that a representative of the power bloc is unlikely to be able to claim power. Astapenya emphasizes: “It is important to look, among other things, at the current hierarchy, in which the security forces are slightly lower than the heads of the government and the presidential administration. Logically, when power passes from top to bottom, the first step is not the security forces.”

It is characteristic that the study does not talk about the opposition at all. Commenting on this point, Astapenya notes: “The West will be the main, one might say the only, lever of the Democrats. If, of course, he wants the opposition to have at least some opportunities to participate in the political life of Belarus, he will probably be able to influence the ruling class.”