For some, it took last year’s brutal crackdown on peaceful demonstrators protesting Belarusian dictator Aleksandr Lukashenko’s attempt to steal the presidential election to realize how awful life has been under his reign. For others, it was the May hijacking of a Ryanair flight to apprehend a Belarusian journalist on board. For those of us who have been watching Belarus closely, however, Lukashenko’s recent behavior has been no surprise.
A year after coming to power through an election in 1994 that was considered largely free and fair, Lukashenko ordered his forces to shoot down a hot air balloon that had floated across the border from Poland, killing two Americans. From there, Lukashenko racked up a long track record of repression and brutality. In 1996, he changed the constitution to consolidate his grip on power. In 1999 and 2000, he had four people disappeared: the political dissident Viktar Hanchar, the businessman Anatol Krasouski, former Interior Minister Yury Zakharenko, and the cameraman Dzmitry Zavadski. Lukashenko continued to go after any perceived political threat. He rigged elections and had challengers to his leadership disqualified from running, harassed, and arrested. A number of activists and opposition figures fled the country for their freedom and lives, including one of the authors of this article.
