Catholics and Protestants of Belarus celebrate Easter; Belarusian diasporas stand with the people from their homeland; interview with a security official: they have beaten and are ready to continue beating people
4 April 2021 | Voice of Belarus
Source: TUT.BY
Catholics and Protestants of Belarus celebrate Easter
On Good Friday, which fell on 2 April this year, Catholic Archbishop Tadeusz Kandrusewicz remarked that “today our Fatherland bears the cross of a social and political crisis and is going through its Good Friday. It is said that after the darkest hour of the night the sun rises again. Just like Easter sunrise came after the tragedy at Calvary. Thus, let us not be afraid to bear the cross of our personal and social life.”
Bishop Kazimir Vialikaselets said in his Easter message: “I’d like to share the joy of God’s resurrection with you, but I realize that not every family might experience such fullness of joy this year. I send a vehement prayer to God asking Him in his mercy to help us all – pastors and believers – to confront the challenges of our time. After darkness there is always light. I am praying for this light with you.”
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya wished a happy and blessed Easter to Catholics, Greek Catholics, and Protestants.
United we stand, divided we fall! Diasporas stand with the people from their homeland
Source: t.me/bnkbel
This weekend, despite the holiday celebrations, solidarity actions with Belarus continued to take place around the world.
Diasporas and residents of Germany (Frankfurt, Berlin), Canada (Edmonton, Toronto), Great Britain (Manchester), Ukraine (Kyiv, Lviv), Poland (Warsaw, Gdańsk), Russia (Moscow) and other countries went out to support Belarusians!
Source: TUT.BY
“Stress is everywhere, starting with the wake-up.” Natallia Hersche’s letter from a penal colony
Natallia Hersche, a Swiss citizen and political prisoner, wrote a letter to her brother, in which she described the conditions in the Homel penal colony No. 4, where she has been serving her sentence.
Natallia works as a thread cutter. She had only one day off in two weeks. At the prison factory, a typical workday is 6 hours long, plus a 1-hour meal break when one can go to a canteen. The political prisoner complains that there is not enough free time even to eat, let alone write a letter.
Natallia also said that the correspondence that contained any mentions of politics was not delivered to her. Overall, she calls these conditions “mockery”.
The political prisoner writes that she is trying to “stay positive” and is waiting for the ambassador to visit her in the colony.
On 7 December 2020 Natallia Hersche was sentenced to two and a half years in a penal colony for participating in a peaceful rally, where she pulled off a balaclava from a riot policeman.
They have beaten and are ready to beat people in the future. Interview with a former security official
Belsat talked with a former employee of the Internal Troops of Belarus, whose military unit participated in the beatings and dispersal of peaceful protesters in August 2020. In his opinion, the majority of security officials did not vote for Lukashenko, yet they still have beaten and are ready to beat people in the future. Before the dispersal, the commanders allowed the troops to do whatever they wanted with the protesters, and promised that all judges and prosecutors would take the side of the security forces.
All those who participated in the punitive operations were entitled to significant monthly bonuses. Those who had stood closer to the protesters and beaten them harder were paid more than those who had trailed behind. A psychologist talked with the security officials every day, encouraging them to not be afraid to withdraw bonuses for beating the protesters, to spend on themselves and their families, because there was nothing shameful in this.
For more information on the events of 1-4 April 2021, please visit Infocenter Free Belarus 2020:
