Marie Antoinette is famously (but erroneously) credited with having said, when told that the French people couldn’t afford bread: “Then let them eat cake.”

Aleksandr Lukashenko, President of Belarus, has figured out a way to carry that to an even greater extreme: Let them not eat at all.

Aksana’s son, Anatol, is an IT specialist who was sentenced to 2-1/2 years in prison for participating in the 2020 anti-government protests in Belarus. Aksana had herself and a disabled mother to support, on a salary of 300 rubles ($92) a month as a caregiver. So she was forced to accept help in the form of food donations through a U.S. online non-profit — INeedHelpBY — that uses a Telegram bot to match donors with people in Belarus “whose ‘active political position’ cost them their job or other income or led to ‘a large fine,’ time in custody, or other restrictions on their freedom.” [RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty, March 26, 2024.]

According to Belarusian authorities, this amounts to carrying out “extremist activities” by way of using “foreign donations” from an organization that has been declared an extremist organization.

And now scores — possibly hundreds — of needy Belarusians have faced prosecution simply for accepting a two-week supply of food from individuals registered with INeedHelpBY. These people, when convicted, have been sentenced to detention, confiscation of the donated goods, and fines equal to the value of the donations — usually hundreds, even thousands of dollars that they do not have. [Id.]

One retired man who had received groceries was found to have “threatened to harm state and public interests.” He was ordered to pay the state the assessed value of the groceries plus a fine equal to $184, and to surrender his laptop and (non-working) cell phone.

A woman caring for a small child was ordered to pay a fine of $300, plus the assessed value of the groceries — $5,550.

These people — deemed as national security threats — are also placed under travel restrictions. Some remain in pretrial detention, suspected of abetting “extremist activities.” [Id.]

All because they, or a family member, spoke out against the repressive regime of Aleksandr Lukashenko. And because they accepted humanitarian assistance from a foreign organization.

It appears that Lukashenko has found the perfect deterrent to those who would dare to oppose him: If you’re not afraid of prison, then we’ll just go after your family as well, and starve them to death.

That was justice in the former Soviet Union . . . and it seems to be working for Belarus today.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
9/12/24