Viachaslau Siuchyk, a hero of the Belarusian maidan, said in his forum on RFE\RL one thing which I find important to reproduce here.
The question was – How are you? What are your plans? Why has the Belarusian opposition abandoned Kozulin?
Siuchyk replied, “When the chips are down, the opposition has abandoned all the people who underwent and undergo the real repressions. This happens because we don’t have a Belarusian system. It is good that we have a few orgs capable of apportioning about 100 dollars for a person not to die of hunger. Eventually, the fact that we have so many political prisoners is a certain foreboding that some dangerous Moscow’s projects can be realized in our country. I am personally not afraid to go to prison for Belarus. The absolute majority of the imprisoned are there for Belarus. I categorically oppose to Kozulin’s imprisonment. But I am curious whose interests – Belarusan or Russian – he will represent when released. I hope that those people who individually faced the repressions understand what kind of processes go on in the country where they live. But while Kozulin is in the cell, I am entirely in sympathy with him, as well as with families of Hanchar, Zacharanka, Krasouski, Juras Korban (who is forgotten by everybody), with thousands and dozens of thousands of the arrested, beaten up, and fired for political motives.”
Note: Juras Korban, the leader of Vitebsk’s NGO “Kontur,” the founder of Vitebsk’s Young Front, was a prominent figure in his city, respected in the youth third sector. Juras, whom I happened to know personally, vanished on 19 January, 2002. The common belief is that some criminal forces were behind his disappearance. But the case has never been properly investigated, and the fact is – no one knows for sure. Korban is one of many early, odd, unfortunate deaths during the rule of Lukashenko.