After the Second World War, a certain young and incredibly brave Belarusian anti-communist activist distributed anti-Stalin flyers and tried to convince his countrymen and underground colleagues that the West would assuredly come and help combat Bolshevik terror. Until his last days, he believed that Belarusians fighting for their freedom were not alone and that some sort of higher power would come to their defense.
No higher power arrived.
Rascislau Lapicki was shot by the NKVD in 1950 when he was 22 years old. His colleagues spent most of their lives in Soviet labor camps.
On Monday, the court in Belarusian Gomel sentenced 16-year-old Mikita Zalatarou to five years of incarceration in a labor camp. His two friends, who were not much older than him, were sentenced to six and eight years in prison.
A few days ago, two young Belsat journalists were sent to prison and many more journalists, oppositionists and human rights defenders are awaiting their sentences. A few regime opponents were murdered, hundreds fell victim to torture and over 250 political prisoners are locked behind bars.
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