'Power should be won peacefully' – ex-political prisoner urges opposition to boycott election
Yury Rubtsou, who was freed on August 22, has come up with the proposal to to boycott the forthcoming presidential election. At the same time, he is not in favour of the idea of mass protests.
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“We should start a boycott. We must urge the international community not to send observers for monitoring this ‘performance’. The international community must think to whom it will provide loans and what these loans will be spent on. I suggest all the political forces sould deliver an ultimatum to the regime and demand the fulfillment of three conditions,” Rubtsou said.
The first condition is granting opposition airtime on the leading Belarusian TV channel everyday. Secondly, unjust labour contracts should be abolished – it is also the demand of the International Labour Organization. And the third condition is making amendments to the Electoral Code.
“And when all political forces unite by this ultimatum, sign it and stop participating in the performance ‘Elections’, this will be a decisive step,” said the former political prisoner.
Yury Rubtsou believes that the power should be won peacefully. “I do not want people to suffer due to their political views. I can serve a prison term, but I saw how much sorrow it had brought to my wife. If it happens again, she might break down. I want people to hear me and my wife. This regime cannot be changed by force,” Rubtsou told Belsat TV.
