Corona and Democracy - Belarus

Information on COVID-19 measures and democracy

• No restrictions,
• no quarantine/lockdown
• as well as no support for health organizations and no protection for the people.   

•  https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/debatten/ein-autokrat-stellt-sich-blind-in-belarus-kaempfen-nur-kreative-gegen-corona-167

• "The parliament of Belarus on Friday set August 9 as the date for the next presidential election. The opposition criticized the decision that comes at a time when the world is facing a pandemic."

• There is no possibility to postpone the election, according to the constitution," state news agency BELTA quoted Lukashenko as saying. "Belarus is going to have the presidential election sooner. We have no reason to postpone it [due to the coronavirus epidemic]. "Therefore we will hold the election. We will set the date soon. It is going to be summer, definitely. The deadline is the end of August."

• https://www.neweurope.eu/article/belarus-to-hold-presidential-elections-in-august/

•  https://www.bento.de/politik/corona-in-weissrussland-wie-junge-menschen-gegen-die-nicht-hilfe-des-regimes-aktiv-werden-a-281df75

• Free press is restricted in Belarus. A son whose mother died tried to sue the government but the police were not allowed to investigate.
• "The press office of the agency, the Investigative Committee, did not answer phone calls."

• https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/25/world/europe/belarus-lukashenko-coronavirus.html

• In Belarus not a lot has changed since the outbreak of corona. The reason for that is mainly the fact that Belarus is not a democracy and President Lukaschenko does not believe in the very existence of the virus. He said “There are no viruses here. Do you see any of them flying around? I don’t see them either.”

•  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/25/world/europe/belarus-lukashenko-coronavirus.html