What Are You Talking About, Kolya?

Charter'97 remains the most popular Belarusian website despite the attacks.

Sure, I got used to slander and defamation after being an independent journalist for 27 years. It constantly poured on me, my colleagues and the Charter'97 website with an endless stream. I understand this is an integral part of the profession, and I usually do not attach much importance to attacks. However, lately I’ve noticed that the attacks are no longer just coming from the regime’s propaganda lapdogs and its supporters, but also from publications and individuals who call themselves 'independent' and 'opposition.' Their resemblance to BT [Belarusian state-owned TV - Ed.] and Azaronak [the chief propagandists of the Lukashenka regime - Ed.] is striking.

The last interview of the head of the Belarus Free Theater Mikalai Khalezin to the Nasha Niva website is so incredibly false that I can't help but respond. The lies in this interview about me, my colleagues, and the website are literally in every word. Let us set aside for now the question of why the once-respected publication Nasha Niva is participating in the harassment of colleagues, spreading false information, and making baseless accusations against the leaders of the Belarusian resistance of committing crimes.

I am surprised by the person of Khalezin, who was our friend for many years and with whom I personally worked at the newspaper 'Name' and then at the Charter'97 civil initiative. Let me say right away that this person has never had any connection to the Charter97.org website. Occasionally, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, their opinion pieces appeared on our pages, but that’s all. In 2005, he created the Free Theater and distanced himself from any political and journalistic activities. We peacefully dispersed, because the purpose and task of Charter'97 has always been the same — the struggle for freedom and independence of Belarus, opposition to the criminal regime of Lukashenka and the promotion of democratic values. None of us have ever been distracted by any third-party projects.

I did not say or write anything bad about Khalezin, just because I always remember the good things that happened in our relations in previous years. But now I want to ask: "What are you talking about, Kolya?"

The claim that the Charter'97 website and the 2010 presidential campaign of candidate Andrei Sannikov were financed by Israeli philanthropist Leonid Nevzlin is complete nonsense. And Khalezin knows perfectly well that we, having almost no means, rushed, as if into an attack, into this campaign and almost won it. According to independent observers, Sannikov, the leader of European Belarus, and Lukashenka then went to the second round. But after the Square on December 19, 2010, we all went to prison. Khalezin, by the way, did not go.

On the eve of these 'elections,' the founder of the Charter website, Aleh Biabienin, was killed. I was involved in numerous criminal cases, also I and all the journalists were ultimately beaten and arrested on election day by masked gunmen.

Khalezin knows perfectly well that I escaped from Belarus without a penny after prison and on the eve of the trial. That my escape without my passport, which was confiscated from me in the KGB prison, was so exhausting. That my colleagues and I later restored the work of the site in exile: first in Vilnius, thanks to the help of the Lithuanian government, and then in Warsaw, where we were invited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland.

The information voiced by Khalezin about the apartment of the former political prisoner Dzmitry Bandarenka is a perjurious lie. Dmitry has never owned an apartment in Warsaw, and he has never owned one. His wife Volha's apartment in Minsk, where he was registered, was recently arrested by the Belarusian authorities.

I have already written about the help of Israeli philanthropist Leonid Nevzlin to the Charter'97 website. Information about our support by the Cooperation for Democracy Foundation is publicly available both on the Foundation's website and on the Charter97.org page.

Throughout the 27 years of Charter'97's work, various foundations in support of democracy, as well as thousands of readers of the site, have helped us. None of the funds and partners ever set any working conditions for us, did not indicate which topics we could cover and which ones we could not. Therefore, once again, especially for Khalezin and others: constructive criticism of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaia is our right and duty as independent journalists. We already have one 'sacred cow', which has been sitting on the throne for 30 years, the criticism of which is a criminal offence. I do not understand the craving of some 'opposition' figures and the media to create another untouchable person in the best totalitarian traditions.

Next: where did the rhetoric about the 'Russian oligarch' come from? Leonid Nevzlin is an Israeli citizen who has lived there for more than 20 years. He renounced Russian citizenship, is a personal enemy of dictator Putin, and was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Putin's court.

Yes, Nevzlin is my friend and a person who has done a lot for the development of democracy in many countries. In today's attacks on him and unfounded accusations, I see the hand of the Russian special services, and now it seems that the Belarusian KGB has actively joined these attacks, while at the same time trying to once again destroy the hated Charter, which, according to Similarweb, continues to be the most popular Belarusian independent website.

So what exactly does Khalezin do? What is the purpose of this monstrous lie? After all, this is not the first time: in 2017, he, the authorities and special services actively participated in a smear campaign against me personally, the Charter'97 website and the leaders of the Belarusian opposition. But then we stood up and became even stronger.

I don't want to think that Khalezin is part of the Lukashenka regime's plan to discredit Charter'97. I have no other logical explanation but to suspect that Mikalai has begun an early senile insanity and he is already confusing reality with his sick fantasies. Because only a person with obvious mental disturbances would lie so selflessly, tremble with hatred, and deliberately slander their former friends.

How can we help him? As an old friend, I can recommend a good doctor.

Natallia Radzina, Editor-in-Chief of Charter97.org

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