European bronze medal winner arrested in Belarus
The Leninsky District Court of Minsk sentenced Elena Levchenko, a well-known basketball player and member of the national team, to 15 days of administrative arrest.
The basketball player is accused of taking part in unauthorized mass events twice in August. The first time she “publicly expressed demands for fair elections”, the second time she walked along the roadway, holding a poster “The People are the Champion” in her hands.
Elena was detained this morning at the airport, from where she was planning to fly out for planned treatment.
Levchenko attracted the attention of Belarusian sports officials after she, along with other athletes, signed an open letter demanding that the presidential elections be declared invalid, the release of “political prisoners” and a stop to the brutality of the security forces.
They tried to persuade Elena and the other most eminent signatories not to get involved in politics. After this, the athletes recorded a video (it was shot professionally in a studio) and threatened to make public the names of those who conduct educational conversations with them. This video, like dozens of others (with the participation of doctors, students, scientists, etc.) became widespread on the Internet.
The athletes themselves admitted in interviews with opposition Belarusian media that they suddenly became interested in politics after the elections.
And now you have to pay for this spontaneous interest. Levchenko found herself on an equal footing in a large group of ordinary people who are now massively receiving administrative and criminal sentences for participating in rallies, posting on social networks, threatening law enforcement officers, and drawing graffiti. Their repentant speeches are broadcast every day on state television.
As for celebrities, until now people who have been involved in politics more or less systematically have been caught “for a day” in Belarus: they organized street actions and became members of various associations. For many, these deadlines are extended for months after new administrative cases are opened.
The fact that not just a Maidan activist, but a bronze medalist of the European Championship, a champion of the Western Conference of the Women's NBA, a WNBA finalist, and a participant in two Olympics, will go under arrest indicates that Lukashenko's regime has decided to really tighten the screws. High social status and merit will not save a single celebrity if he speaks out against Lukashenko.
A day earlier, the Ministry of Information of Belarus canceled the registration of the online publication TUT.BY for three months. This is not just the most popular media in the country, it is the favorite opposition publication of the authorities, which was mistakenly considered pocket-sized. TUT.BY journalists were allowed to attend official events and were allowed to ask questions that were indecent for state media to voice, but officials really wanted to answer them. Mostly to make critical remarks about Russia.
Now that the well-fed opposition has painfully bitten the giving hand, and therefore the Minsk officialdom has made a forced turn to the east, they will not coddle propagandists of Western values. At least for now.
“At a certain moment, the system of state ideologists collapsed, propaganda practically fell apart - the Belarusian police pulled out all the power and continues to pull it out on their shoulders. If we look at the Belarusian protest, we will see that it is gradually turning into a republican flash mob, one of the goals of which is to divide society into “us” and “outsiders,” political scientist Semyon Uralov wrote in his Telegram channel.
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