Mockingly inviting the political emigrants to return, Lukashenka promises them appropriate accommodation in their homeland: "Who goes to prison, who goes where - who deserved what."

Lukashenko's "forgiveness" is only through prison cells.

Moreover, even if you have served time and left there, there is no guarantee that you will not be caught again, for the sake of prevention.

Or thinking that they "gave not enough" last time.

And the "fugitives" still do not crawl on their knees and do not repent...

Lukashenka returns again and again to the topic of "fugitives" - although no one specifically asks him about it.

The last time, on June 21, official propaganda spread his statements about this, referring to the fact that he allegedly answered the relevant question of the employees of the Orsha agro-combination "Yubileyny".

But in fact, the question was completely different.

I carefully reviewed the entire video: an excited collective worker in a green cap asked: "What should be done so that young people aspire to the countryside?".

And he, having started about combine harvesters, agricultural towns and dairy farms, unexpectedly in the middle of his answer, still turned to the topic of "fugitives": "They fled abroad, and today 95% (they already write openly) want to return back: "If only Aleksandar Ryhorovich would forgive and opened the border..." 95% would return.

I don't mind: who goes to prison, who goes where - who deserved what.

We have to go back.

You won't settle there."

Please note: the percentage of those willing to return is determined, and a quote from conversations with relatives or friends of "runaways" is given as evidence.

I have little doubt that all this is taken from the exact note of the special services, which, on his special order, are ticking, tracking correspondence, intercepting conversations, recording moods.

However, what is finally put on his table in the form of conclusions raises great doubts.

Are you saying that 95 percent are rushing back to the cozy Lukashenko dictatorship?

And how many of these 95 percent dared to return?

How many cases did the famous Shved-Azaronka commission review over the past five months, the creation of which Lukashenka publicly announced at the beginning of February in his message?

Remember that "lyrical digression" with a sentence to "the fugitives":

"We have sent them a signal so far.

And they were moved: how to be, what to do?

My advice to you: go home!

Repent and get on your knees... Pay the fines, if only in part, because what you have done will not be enough for what you own, nor what you will earn in advance in your life.

Before you, who need it, who deserved it according to the law, sit out in places not too far away, we will create a public commission.

Well, for example, the co-chairmen can be the Prosecutor General and our "herald" Hryhor Azaronak... It will get worse, so go to your knees, crawl!"

The desire for revenge is stronger than logic and calculation

The topic of revenge, retribution for one's own humiliation and fear of 2020 has been one of the key topics in Lukashenka's public speeches and interviews for the past month.

This motif invariably breaks through, even when he is thinking about completely different issues.

Of course, mass emigration, depopulated Belarus, economic decline and the specter of further collapse — these topics worry Lukashenka.

And although official statistics are increasingly becoming closed, inaccessible to the public, Lukashenka himself, without a doubt, knows about the real state of affairs.

The latest public figures of statistics show a rapid reduction in the number of people employed in the economy: according to the data at the end of last year, a historical minimum was reached - 4 million 255 thousand people.

The data for May of this year are even more impressive - 4 million 212 thousand people.

This is 21 thousand less than a month ago.

Historical records are falling one after another.

And it's hard to believe that today's Belarus is home to not just nine million (as is officially believed), but at least eight million people.

And it's not pensioners, disabled people, and unemployed people who leave, but mainly educated and able-bodied people, proactive and enterprising.

The emigration of hundreds of thousands of young entrepreneurs, natives, and freelancers means that the country is losing its energy, talents, and future.

Besides, they don't just leave by themselves.

They take their knowledge, experience, money, and potential with them.

And in addition, families and children.

Who will create GDP and pay taxes in Belarus?

Pensioners?

Karpiankov with his "handsome men" who are only looking to get deeper into the state's pocket?

What could be more logical in such a situation than an attempt to stop the dramatic flow for Belarus, to invite those who left to return?

By himself or under the influence of advisers and ministers who constantly remind about this problem, Lukashenka repeats again and again: "Don't leave", "You are not expected anywhere".

(The last time was at the university graduation ball on June 28: "Remember one thing: do it in your native land. Some of you think it's easier and better "over there". Learn from other people's mistakes. Ask those who are there, how they are." ).

However, any calls not to leave and return, as soon as consciousness returns him to the unhealed wounds of August 2020, are immediately shattered by an insatiable thirst for revenge and revenge.

And then something deep and secret breaks through: "Through the prison!", "Crawling and on my knees!".

Magnanimity and condescension, the ability and inclination to forgive one's political opponents is a feature of strong and great, significant political figures.

And the weak-hearted, petty and vindictive - as a rule, spiteful and spiteful.

Return price

Many of those who fled the repression really have a hard time abroad, especially in the first weeks and months.

Unsettled life, long and complicated bureaucratic procedures for obtaining official status, foreign language and customs, job searches, longing for relatives and friends who remained in the homeland... Conversations overheard by Belarusian special services, which are placed on Lukashenka's desk in the form of precise notes, the truth

But it is far from complete and not all.

Work will be found sooner or later.

And the problem with the documents will be solved.

And the children will get used to the new school.

And one way or another, a person gets used to a foreign language.

Some still dare to return: "I didn't do anything special.

Well, he went to a peaceful rally - the administrative statute of limitations on this matter has long since passed.

They don't imprison for that."

In today's Belarus, they plant, and without any statute of limitations.

No usual norms of law and moral restrictions work in current Belarus when it comes to revenge for 2020.

Remember the fate of Dmitrii Navazhilov, the former director of the BelaPAN information agency.

An intelligent, honest, decent and extremely neat and careful person.

He certainly felt close attention to his editorial office from the authorities — and was accurate and scrupulous about every detail, about every document that passed through his hands.

In January 2021, after the arrest of the former editorial staff member Andrei Alexandrov and the subsequent search of the office, he resigned from his post and left the territory of Belarus.

It was an absolutely right step: the spiral of repression in Belarus was clearly beginning to unfurl at that time, and a real threat loomed over all independent media.

And suddenly, after a few months, Dmitry unexpectedly returns from abroad to Belarus.

(Did he decide that the threat had passed? Did he have any promises from the authorities that he would not be touched?) On August 18, 2021, he was arrested together with the new head of BelaPAN, Irina Levshina.

He has been in a prison cell for almost a year.

Abayim faces a long term of imprisonment "for tax evasion and creation of the extremist organization BelaPAN".

The return of political emigrants is a common phenomenon in history.

180,000 former subjects of the former Russian Empire who fled after the Bolshevik coup of 1917 returned to the USSR in the middle and late 20s of the last century.

Redeemed by nostalgia, disappointed in a foreign country.

But in that case, the Soviet regime at least gave hope, promised to forgive all past sins and lured with a wonderful future in the country of universal equality (of course, in the end it deceived: almost all 180,000 in the 30s and 40s marched into the gulag in dense rows).

But in the case of Lukashenko, there is no such hypocrisy and deception: he directly says: "Who goes to prison, who goes to where...".

Lukashenko's "forgiveness" is only through prison cells.

Moreover, even after leaving there, you have no guarantee that you will not be caught again, for the sake of prevention.

Or thinking: "They gave too little last time, we should add more" (remember the fate of "Belsat" journalist Ekaterina Andreeva, who will soon face a new trial - this time "for treason to the motherland").

And to add - does anyone have any doubts about that?

For Lukashenka, it is important that they return, repent, and he should put them in prison, decide who to punish, who to spare... That's the only way the thirst for revenge is fueled.

He sent for death even when he himself was barely breathing

Is there a chance that Lukashenka will leave his inveterate bitterness and vindictiveness, and become more merciful, compassionate, lenient towards political opponents?

At the age of 68, people rarely change.

Dictators like Lukashenka remain vindictive and bloodthirsty, often until their last days.

Such was, for example, the Spanish caudillo of Francisco Franco.

It would seem: 36 years in power.

In the last years of his life, he suffered from severe weakness (he suffered from Parkinson's disease, he died long and painfully).

But even while preparing for God's judgment, the vengeful dictator refused to show mercy to his political opponents, signed death sentences.

And what!

In 1974, the civilized world was shaken by the execution of Catalan anarchist Salvador Pucha Antico in Spain.

The 25-year-old boy, who fought against the dictatorship, was not simply sentenced to death by the Francoist regime.

He was sentenced to death in a cruel medieval way - at the stake.

This is a method of capital punishment by strangulation.

The victim was tied to a chair, a metal ring was placed around the neck, which the executioner gradually tightened with the help of a screw and a lever.

To make the death even more painful, a metal point was attached to the screw, which, when turned, gradually dug into the victim's neck and crushed her cervical vertebrae.

Famous persons such as German Chancellor Willy Brandt and Pope Paul VI appealed to the Spanish dictator to cancel the inhumane punishment.

Franco ignored the requests.

Francisco Franco, 1939

Just two months before his death, already hopelessly bedridden, Franko signed the death sentence for five more police prisoners.

Leaders of many countries, including Pope Paul VI, asked the dictator to pardon them.

Fifteen European states recalled their ambassadors from Madrid as a sign of protest.

In many European capitals in the summer of 1975, massive demonstrations against this murder took place.

Everything is in vain.

On September 27, 1975, political prisoners were shot.

At the same time, Franco himself was slowly and painfully dying.

He suffered two heart attacks in the last month;

2/3 of his stomach was amputated, he was operated on due to acute peritonitis... He died in agony two months after the execution of his victims.

This example came to my mind in connection with the recently completed investigation into the case of Svetlogor partisans - three young men who set fire to a relay box on the railway.

The Investigative Committee stated that in accordance with the new Lukashenko laws, they are threatened with execution.

And does anyone doubt that Lukashenka will approve such a sentence?

... Films, books, songs and paintings were written about the martyrdom and death of Salvador Pucha Antico already in the newly free Spain.

The death penalty was completely abolished in the country two years after Frank's death.

The dictator himself long before his death took care of the honorable place of his own rest - according to his order, a magnificent memorial was erected near Madrid - the Valley of the Fallen, where the caudillo ordered to bury himself in the crypt of the basilica, next to the altar.

44 years after the magnificent funeral, on October 24, 2019, the remains of the dictator were taken out of the basilica and reburied in a regular cemetery.

And the "Valley of the Fallen" memorial itself, which Franco intended as a majestic monument to his beloved, the Spaniards are going to turn into a memorial to the victims of Francoism.

Dictators rarely find peace even after their death.

The opinions expressed in the blogs represent the views of the authors themselves and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position.