Local residents draw attention to troubled times in "Europe's last dictatorship"

Athlone resident Pavel Mialko said that, on certain days, he still misses his former job as an investigator with the police in Belarus.

But in 2006, with his eldest daughter aged a year and a half, Pavel (pictured above) decided he had to leave his native country.

With Belarus being led by Alexander Lukashenko - who has become known as 'Europe's last dictator' - he couldn't see a positive future for his family there.

"I liked my job, sometimes I still miss it, but when Lukashenko became president he started involving the police force in political arrests. Putting people behind bars with no evidence," said Pavel.

"There was an election in March 2006, and I saw police using brutality. I saw how they were influencing things in schools, with propaganda. I didn't see a future there for my family after that election."

Pavel has not returned in the fourteen years since, but his father and brother still live in Belarus and he said things have "only become worse" in the country.

Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994, claimed victory in a presidential election which was held in August, but that result was not recognised by the European Union, which declared the election "rigged".

The leader of the opposition, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who fled to Lithuania following the election, is regarded by the EU as president-elect in the eyes of the Belarusian people, having reportedly secured a clear majority of votes cast.

Remarkably, the Government switched off the internet in Belarus for three days in August, in an apparent attempt to suppress information about widespread protests and State crackdowns following the election.

The unrest has continued since then, however, with strike action launched by workers and students this week.

Pavel, who served in the Garda Reserve in 2011 and 2012, currently works as a supervisor with a security firm. He lives in River Village, Monksland, with his wife and three daughters aged 16, 12, and 10.

Speaking to the Westmeath Independent, he explained that there was an ever-growing appetite for change in his native country and he wanted to bring attention to its people's quest for freedom and true democracy.

Because of his outspoken opposition to the current regime, he hasn’t returned to Belarus since 2006. To see his relatives and his elderly father he travelled to Lithuania a few years ago, and they came over the border from Belarus to meet him.

Pavel explained that when Lukashenko came to power he changed the country's constitution and gradually started to suppress democracy and restrict people's rights.

"This started in the 1990s, when some political leaders who tried to go against him just disappeared," he said.

"We still have the KGB (intelligence agency), we still have the death penalty, which I am against. Even in Russia they have a moratorium on the death penalty. They don't execute people. We still have it. There are no fair trials in Belarus. I know that, as an investigator."

"Also, just before the election, Lukashenko completely denied the Coronavirus. He was saying this (virus) is just a cycle, 'this is not new, drink some vodka and go to work. It does not exist.'"

Pavel also spoke about the persecution of Catholics, such as himself, in Belarus. The Archbishop of Minsk, the capital of Belarus, went to Poland in August but was denied entry when he tried to return to Belarus in late August.

"He couldn't come back into the country - they said there was something wrong with his passport! It's two months now, and he's still in Poland," said Pavel.

He added that the younger generation in Belarus hadn't seen any change during their lifetime, but some were working in the IT sector which meant they were travelling and seeing more progressive societies elsewhere.

"These people travel and see the world, and see more freedom in other countries, and they start to think: Why can't we change something here?"

Another native of Belarus whom we contacted for this article, spoke to us but asked not to be identified. This Westmeath resident gave accounts of friends who had been victims of State brutality in Belarus in recent months.

One friend participated in a peaceful protest in Minsk, on August 10, which was brutally dispersed by the police. A priest who took part had his head "smashed with a truncheon" by riot police, and a number of people were shot.

"My friend was arrested and beaten, and after the beating he lost consciousness in a police station. Doctors later diagnosed him with traumatic brain injury. But he was extremely lucky. Why? Because he might have been delivered to Akrestina detention centre, where people were brutally tortured and beaten up to death," we were told.

The local resident we spoke to had another friend who was "an outstanding teacher" in Belarus but was recently fired from her school because the KGB felt she was "politically unreliable".

Pavel wrote to Minister Simon Coveney about the situation in Belarus and he said he was thankful the Taoiseach had spoken by phone to the opposition leader, Ms Tikhanovskaya, to express Ireland's solidarity with the people of the country following the disputed election.

The Monksland resident also said he was very appreciative of the Irish people who had helped victims of the Chernobyl disaster, and the groups (some from Athlone) who went on trips to the country to carry out construction projects on a voluntary basis.

Pavel explained that he and others opposed to the current regime wanted to see a new election being called, political prisoners being released, and an international investigation into the "unacceptable" crimes by police against the Belarusian people.

"The people there just deserve a better life. This election (in August) was a boiling point for the society," he said.

"For me, I live here in Ireland and I am happy here, but this is the choice of the Belarusian people and I have to support them."