The methods of torture of the Belarusian KGB have become much more brutal: every detail of the “public confession” is not accidental

May 23 A Ryanair plane carrying one of Nexta’s former editors, Ramanas Pratasevičius, was bravely forced to land in Minsk, and the activist was arrested and now tortured by local security forces. So far his fate is unclear, but the security forces’ methods of destroying the opposition, according to the professor, have probably changed little.

He told Delfi more about the situation that has been developing in this country for a long time and what actions of the Belarusian KGB seem like a political scientist in the field of fiction.

The Soviets stayed and were proud of it.

According to G. Mažeikis, he became more interested in the internal affairs of Belarus around the year 2000, because from that period a more active civil and political movement began there. He now communicates frequently with local opposition figures.

“Somewhere around 2002. It became clear that we were facing another growing authoritarian regime. The fact that Belarus took this path, as was clear when Lukashenko came to power in 1994, was at the same time a counterrevolution in the liberation of post-Soviet countries.

People were intimidated by the reforms that were taking place at the time, but it was certainly not thought that with the arrival of Lukashenko, those reforms would be completed. So when I was elected in 1994, it was in fact a democratic election with a high turnout. “

Unfortunately, he says, it has become clear over time that it is less and less hopeful to expect any major change.

“Leonidas Donskis was still alive and then the allegations against the Lukashenko regime of killing some opposition figures became clear. There have also been allegations that he is increasingly usurping power and creating a circle of obedient people around him. Let’s say there was such a genesis. Tribunal, 2002 this process could still be stopped. “

When asked if the Belarusian people had not asked why the KGB security structure, which still survived under the Soviet name, had not yet been abolished or reformed, he said that there had been attempts to do so in Russia.

There, the KGB converted the FSB or the Federal Security Service and even removed the monument to Felix Dzerzhinsky, which was a very symbolic act. After all, it all started with ČK, who was the first to lead this character.

In this way, the renovation was supposed to have started, but in the late 1990s Vladimir Putin became the head of this security service and little by little things began to change. All those reforms that have been made to the security of Russia have been recovered, “said the professor.

He also claimed that many security guards had tried to resist.

“During that decade the network of military intelligence and security collaborators and informants was unmasked, many of them fled and discipline had to be reintroduced into this structure. This was done by Putin and, after him, Patrushev, who carried out radical reforms.

He is now considered the second-largest man in Russia after Putin. Then Russian security went back to the old way, and the Belarusian KGB never experienced such internal destruction. Probably 1991-1994. something started there, but when he came to power, Lukashenko started the aforementioned counter-reforms against Yeltsin and the collapse of the Soviet Union. “

According to the professor, at that time Aliaksandr Lukashenko even imagined himself as a possible leader of the former Soviet Union, and for this to happen, Russia had to meet with Belarus.

“It was in Yeltsin’s time and therefore the Belarusian KGB thought they were the center or base of the Russian KGB. Furthermore, all Russian security must be based on their experience, because the Belarusian KGB was still “Soviet” and was proud of it. “

However, the political scientist added, these “hallucinations” of Belarus were dispelled by the seizure of power by Putin, who did not want to appease the state.

Fantasy Club members

According to G. Mažeikis, the competition between the Russian FSB and the Belarusian KGB prevailed for some time, but the latter lost it. Now, he says, we already have a situation where the Belarusian KGB is trying to show that it is more brutal, more active and less law-abiding than Russian security.

“The Belarusian KGB, as they probably have very few achievements and judging by the reports Lukashenko is giving about events in the country and in the world, they are members of a fantasy club.”

He based it on the fact that each time they talk about the impossible and even though they listen to the conversation, but they listen to what they want.

“For example, he overhears a conversation with the German secret services and says that Lukashenko is called a ‘madman’, although there is no such term in English. Such a name in a well-known film is a value of the Russian language and it was the first glimpse that the KGB fantasizes about some kind of film, not that they know a foreign language and understand what they are talking about. “

The second example, which, according to the professor, showed the maximum of security hallucinations in Belarus, is the presentation of a document that the terrorist organization HAMAS has threatened Minsk with flying a plane over Vilnius unless the war between Palestine and Israel. .

However, it was not even taken into account that two days had elapsed before the ceasefire was sent. So they fantasized so much that they didn’t even care that they were already signed. “

This shows, says G. Mažeikis, that the people who work there do not speak English well, they translate from Russian to English and vice versa, and probably HAMAS also writes to them in Russian.

“I mean the top ten are better at writing an essay on a fantastic subject than what the Belarusian KGB is giving Lukashenko and his administration. Then the government reads these hallucinations to the whole world.”

According to him, this represents a very high risk, as the regime may take inappropriate but very dangerous actions.

Torture methods have improved

Speaking of current methods of torture of detainees during interrogation and judging by gulaguose the prisoners’ memories say they have only grown more cruel.

“It just came to our attention then gulago times. The only difference that I have heard in various conferences between the former communist Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union is that the latter used fewer methods of psychoanalysis. The Soviet Union did not recognize them and used them little. “

According to the professor, he relied less on psychological blackmail, humiliation and other means. He relied more on physical violence, coercion, or kept the prisoner cold and prevented him from sleeping.

“In the former Yugoslavia, especially in the time of Joseph Broz Tito, there have been many methods of torture that today we associate with psychological violence or harassment. It was applied in a prison environment and it was a very sophisticated and cruel method.

When I look at and read about the methods currently used by the Belarusian KGB, I have the impression that they have nevertheless made progress in this direction and have started to use many psychological tools. “

When asked what kind of violence, psychological or physical, is more difficult for a detainee to endure, he assured that each person is different.

“I imagine that Cichanouskaya was obviously not subjected to physical violence, but very strong psychological means were used. Witnesses are suspected of being blackmailed by loved ones, children or loved ones. They are threatened with killing, ruining their lives or being brutally tortured. “

On the other hand, G. Mažeikis added, he does not believe that the Belarusian KGB is very competent, but uses a limited list of technical means.

“It is true that these measures are still cruel. For example, girls are obviously raped or threatened with rape. Men are also threatened with rape. Such, I would say, threats from the Soviet army or prison type.”

Confessions are a propaganda tool

The beating and subsequent bruising by the opposition, he says, is a means of physical violence with which it is probably difficult to surprise anyone.

“In general, it is not only one who is beaten, but in the presence of others a person is undressed, otherwise they are humiliated and other means are used, which are often related to sexual abuse.” It is also a method most likely taken from the criminal world. “

According to G. Mažeikis, the public “confessions” of detainees are not made for the accused himself, but to influence society and certain parts of it.

“It should be noted that this is probably still effective enough, because a lot of people only watch TV and are only controlled by the government, so they probably trust those stories. It is here for them, first of all, that it is being creating history “.

According to G. Mažeikis, there will always be a certain percentage of people to whom this performance is dedicated.

“Therefore, this is all done for propaganda purposes only and, more importantly, when, for example, rumors of the suffering or murder of Pratasevičius, Navaln are spread, security generally tries to refute these widespread rumors, and that video is used for that purpose. “

He noted that this is also the case in North Korea, where one or the other foreign national is kidnapped and then pumped with drugs, a thick layer of makeup is applied to his face and worn for several minutes to speak in front of him. the cameras. However, the professor added that generally known and mentally stronger, more experienced political figures are not required to participate in this performance and an example could be Alexei Navaln.

“The semantics of ‘confessions’ are very simple. The KGB wants to show a ‘friendlier’ face, and for the person shown, this is the only chance to tell the world through some code that this is not the case. Then they try to come up with them, although this is not a very successful environment.

It is true that this is very difficult, because we can make mistakes when we try to “decode” them. Both sides are playing here and you need to know which side is lying. That pack of cigarettes may be true to the person who placed it, but the nuance is that when the KGB creates that image for us, they control every detail. “

According to G. Mažeikis, there are no random elements and the composition is very strict and if the pack of cigarettes is placed, then it is done by custom or instruction.

“Then you have to check if the person smokes or smokes those cigarettes. For example, according to Pratasevičius’s father, he did not smoke. Then you realize that everything in that video is an illusion: both the cigarettes and the face we see, both speaking and reading. Here everything is a lie, so in this background we look for micro-details that tell at least a little bit of truth “, he concluded.