These indicate, according to videos seen by CNN and witnesses’ statements, a possible prison camp for political dissidents recently built near the settlement of Novokolosovo, about an hour’s drive from the Belarusian capital Minsk. It sits on the site of a Soviet-era missile storage facility, spread over 200 acres. It is not clear how much of the site has been renovated.
Frank Viakorka, a senior adviser to Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Sichanovskaya, saw the footage and told CNN: “It is not surprising that [President Alexander Lukashenko] Trying to build something like a regular prison camp, because a new wave of protests will emerge anyway. It could start with his statements, it could start with the economic situation. But will come He understands that, and he also wants to be more prepared in 2020 than last year.”
In October, ByPol, an activist group of former security officials, released a recording which they alleged was made by the deputy interior minister, Mikaia Karpyenkou, in which they said “restore” prison camps more Needed to make up for a more “sharp heel”. “The demonstrators to reform them. In the recording, Karpyenkou proposed building a camp out of an existing penitentiary in the city of Ivtsevichi.
The Belarusian government condemned the recordings as “fake” news at the time of their release. The government did not respond to CNN’s request for comment on this article.
CNN has not been able to access the interior of the facility near Novokolosovo, and there are no signs that there are prisoners in the camp yet. A Western intelligence official told CNN that it was “possible” to use the facility as a prison camp, although they did not have direct evidence to that effect. Locals of the city of Novokolosovo call this facility “camp”. One resident, who had recently been asked by military guards to leave the area, when he arrived at the site, said: “My friend Sasha, a builder, told me they renovated the place. There are three levels, and it’s electrified. I was picking up mushrooms here when a soldier came up to me and said I couldn’t walk there.” Two other witnesses also observed the military patrol.
The camp’s images emerge after a week of crackdowns against independent media remaining inside Belarus, and after increasing international attention to the crisis inside the authoritarian country.
The National Olympic Committee of Belarus has said that she was dropped from the Olympic team due to emotional and psychological issues, which she denies.
CNN has spoken to activists who say they have taken steps to sabotage railway lines run by the Belarusian government. He sent CNN a series of videos that show him using an established technique of delaying trains without causing damage. CNN is not disclosing the location or nature of the strategy, and has not been able to independently confirm the effectiveness of the protest actions.
One of the organisers, who said their activities had slowed trains to about 20 kph (12 mph) in some areas, told CNN: “The main goal is to cause economic damage to the regime, because of delays.” Due to which they have to pay heavy fine.”
Many of the railways that pass through Belarus ferry freight from China to the European Union, meaning that frequent delays could be of widespread importance to international trade across the continent, making Lukashenko’s regime hard in the pocket.
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