Mikalai Autukhovich: "The new leader is among us"
Mikalai Autukhovich. Photo by Yulia Darashkevich.
In his letter the
political prisoner reflexes on the possible changes awaiting Belarus
and shares his latest news.
According to Mr. Autukhovich, the
society is waiting for a new political leader. "I know that
there is such a man among us and hope that soon there will be changes
for the better in this respect," writes the prisoner.
He
also touches upon the issue of the responsibility of state officials
for the things that are happening in Belarus: "The possessors of
the power are able to convince people really well. There were some
"convinced" ones in my case. I couldn't even imagine that
some of the people I knew would lie and slander, but sometimes evil
is stronger than a human will. I don't think that the people who are
holdings state posts and work in the state sector are villains. On
the other hand, they are responsible for what is happening in the
country. Even if they are cogs in the state machine – it would be
impossible to lie to the people so long without them."
Mikalai
Autukhovich also wrote that he was trying to solve the issue of teeth
repair. "There have been no developments so far, but the lawyer
is dealing with this issue", he wrote.
As it has has
become known these days, an investigator of Hrodna Region Department
of State Control Committee Mikalai Alikhver, responsible for the
fabrication of a criminal case against Mikalai Autukhovich and Yury
Leonau in 2003-2005, moved to the US after winning a Green Card.
The
case was fabricated after Mr. Autukhovich provided evidence of
corruption among the state authorities of Vaukavysk district. As a
result, he was imprisoned for an "economic crime".
Having
served the first prison term, Mr. Autukhovich got an audience with
the US Ambassador to Belarus, Caren Stewart, and asked her to find
out whether the investigator had really emigrated to the US. She
promised to help him, but didn't provide any information afterwards.
However, film producer Volha Nikalaichyk managed to find a
photo of Alikhver with his wife in the US state Atlanta, in the
Russian social network "Odnoklassniki". Alikhver's account
was deleted soon after the publication of the information and the
photos.
