Belavusau, Uladzislau

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The State of Denial Amidst a MilitaryParade: COVID-19 in BelarusUladzislau Belavusau 2020-05-20T11:01:43Introduction: authoritarian regimes and pandemicsBy mid-May 2020, the nexus between the state of democracy and rule of law,and the ways countries are grappling with COVID-19 has crystalized so vividly(including in the impressive array of essays on Verfassungsblog) that it is almosttrivial to expect repressive legal twists from a clearly authoritarian state grantedextra emergency powers. In the end, the current spread of the pandemic is the resultof rather irresponsible (if not outright illegal) tactics by the world’s most populatedauthoritarian regime, the People’s Republic of China. The latter has nonethelessintroduced lockdowns and state-controlled quarantine measures. In this regard,the authoritarian government of Belarus stands out somewhat paradoxically.Órban’s Hungary and neighbouring Poland (about the ‘Belarusisation of the ruleof law’ in these EU countries, see here, here and here) have instrumentalizedquarantine and the threat of pandemic for the sake of their autocratic opportunism.In contrast, #ukašenka’s Belarus has chosen a path of semi-denialism, somewhatcomparable to the rhetoric of Bolsonaro’s Brazil. Along with Sweden, Belarusremains the only European country without a state-imposed quarantine. Schools,sport competitions, hairdressers, restaurants and cinemas have all been functioningas normal in the same period when each of its six neighboring states (includingPutin’s Russia) have introduced strict quarantine measures or even lockdowns. ThePresident, Aliaksandr #ukašenka, who has been in power for a quarter of a century,has repeatedly denied the scope and seriousness of the pandemic. Amongst#ukašenka’s extravagant “recommended remedies” for Belarusian citizens againstCOVID-19 are playing hockey, slaying the virus with vodka, going to the sauna andworking on tractors in the harvest fields. The apogee of this mocking denialist politicshas been the pompous military parade in Minsk on 9 May 2020, commemorating the75th anniversary of victory over the Nazi Germany. The event involved thousandsof people, including soldiers, veterans, state officials and general spectators on thestreets of the Belarusian capital.The military parade in Minsk in May 2020 during the steady growth of new cases(more than 30,000 at present) – akin to a “feast in time of plague” – is particularlydifficult to reconcile with the image of a country that remains the biggest victimof the Chernobyl disaster of 26 April 1986, with a huge part of its territory andcitizens suffering from the consequences of radiation. The annual 1 May [1986]parades in Belarusian and Ukrainian cities, in the direct aftermath of the Chernobylexplosion, have become almost iconic symbols, emblematic of the negligence of theSoviet government to emergency disasters. (Both authors of this contribution wereborn in Homiel, the largest city of the affected area). Yet in contrast to the ‘illiberal- 1 -democracies’ of Hungary and Poland, which introduced strict quarantines, Belarusappears to be playing the role of a perfectly ‘liberal’ state with almost a laissez-fairesolution, where people’s choice is prioritized and rights are respected as no severemeasures are introduced to close businesses or restrict free movement. This imageis inevitably misleading, as democratic institutions in Belarus have been broughtto heel long ago, and alternative information about the state of affairs in Belarusregarding the virus remains suppressed.Socio-legal background of a possible response andrule of law in BelarusAccording to the Belarusian Constitution, a state of emergency (nadzvy#ajnajestanoviš#a) can be introduced by the President and approved by the upper chamberof the Parliament (Art. 84(22)). Although fundamental rights and freedoms can besuspended under a state of emergency or martial law (Art. 63), standard exceptionsapply as certain rights cannot be restricted, including the right to life (albeit Belarusremains the only country in Europe where the execution of death penalty remains inplace); freedom of faith; and prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman or degradingtreatment or punishment (including being subjected to medical or other experimentswithout consent). However, forced labour may be imposed, inter alia, in the situationof an emergency (Art. 41).In terms of political process, no elections can be held during a state of emergencyor martial law (Art. 71). In contrast, the presidential elections which were expectedto take place this year have nonetheless been scheduled – during the pandemic –for 9 August 2020. Further, in accordance with the Constitution, the lower chamberof the Parliament (Pa#ata Pradsta#niko#), the chamber elected directly by citizens,may not be dissolved during a state of emergency or martial law (Art. 94) and theConstitution itself cannot be amended at this time (Art. 139).The constitutional provisions on a state of emergency are no doubt influencedby the Chernobyl disaster, considering that most of the radioactive fallout landedin Belarus. A large body of national legislation has been adopted to address theconsequences thereof. The tragedy is also part of a wider social and culturalnarrative, e.g. the ‘Chernobyl Prayer’ (1997) remains perhaps the most-known bookby the Belarusian writer #viat#ana Aleksijevi#, who was awarded the 2015 NobelPrize for literature. Taking this into account, strictly speaking, there is no expressground in the Constitution (adopted in 1994) that could trigger a state of emergencyin the event of a pandemic, which is a development of another kind. However, theConstitution empowers the President to announce a state of emergency “in the eventof a natural disaster, a catastrophe, or unrest involving violence or threat of violenceon the part of a group of persons or organizations that endangers people’s life andhealth or jeopardizes the territorial integrity and existence of the State” (Art. 84(22)).The Law 117-Z “On state of emergency” (2002) further clarifies that epidemics canbe a basis for a state of emergency (Art. 3).- 2 -Public control over states of emergency is rather limited. The Constitution stipulatesthat “the individual, his rights, freedoms and guarantees to secure them are thesupreme value and goal of the society and the State” (Art. 2). Nevertheless, thisproclamation is hard to reconcile with reality: Belarus is ranked 153 out of 180 on theWorld Press Freedom Index; the President – who has amended the Basic Law torebalance the power structure in his favour – has remained in power for more than25 years; civil society operates in quasi-dissident conditions; and political opponentspreviously disappeared and continue to be imprisoned when the situation suits thegovernment.   The Constitution also provides for judicial independence (Art. 110). Suchindependence is clearly undermined by the President’s role in, and control over,the selection, appointment, reappointment, promotion and dismissal of judges, thuseffectively eliminating the classic checks and balances in Belarus, where the role ofthe parliament too is rather a façade. Therefore, independent judicial review of anyof the measures adopted in response to COVID-19, or possible, future emergencymeasures and, importantly, failures to act by the government, can hardly be ensured.Handling COVID-19 in Belarus: legal and otherdevelopments in Spring 2020The measures adopted following the country’s first identified case of COVID-19on 28 February 2020 were limited to contact-tracing and ad hoc isolations. On 25March, the authorities introduced an obligatory 14-day self-isolation for peoplearriving from affected countries (however, the borders remain open to this day),followed by a set of soft quarantine measures at the local level, ensuring that peoplewith cold or flu symptoms do not attend work, establishing higher security measuresin public places, imposing attendance limits on certain events and venues, andleaving discretion to parents to decide whether their children should attend school.A nationwide self-isolation regime was introduced on 8 April 2020, according towhich every person with a confirmed case of COVID-19, along with every personwith whom they had contact with up to 14 days before or having symptoms wereobliged to self-isolate. These measures were introduced by the government basedon the Law 340-Z “On sanitary-epidemiologic well-being” (2012), which allows for thegovernment to introduce restrictive measures in the case of infectious diseases (Art.23). At the same time, the government has also introduced additional measures onstate regulation of prices on certain goods, including masks and disinfectants, limitson selling certain drugs and medical equipment, and bans on exports of relevantmedical equipment.Therefore, the President has not yet exercised the emergency powers availableto him under the Constitution. Instead, the measures adopted thus far have beengrounded in different legal bases, including many at the level of local authorities.The President has effectively, partially denied the seriousness of COVID-19 – attimes in a most extravagant way as described above. This may have led to furthersuppression of alternative views regarding the situation, including pressure on theindependent media (extending to occasional arrests of journalists) and medical- 3 -workers, which makes it more difficult to determine the actual numbers of COVID-19victims and the situation in the Belarusian hospitals.Conclusions: The Belarusian Vikings?In Spring 2020, the majority of countries in Europe have acted in the best traditionsof Foucault’s Surveiller et punir [“Discipline and Punish”, 1975]. Thus, the Frenchprime minister apparently sees the French as not disciplined enough to follow softerrules, which necessitates stricter ones. While other European countries have beenstructuring the quarantine confinement in terms of both discipline and punishment,there have been two uncanny outliers: democratic Sweden and authoritarianBelarus. The latter is ironic on many levels, as argued above, but also because theinspiration for the disciplinary institution prominently featuring in Foucault’s book –the panopticon – comes directly from Belarus. It was devised by Jeremy Benthamduring his stay in the Belarusian town of Kry#a#, where he analyzed the regime ofconstant observation of workers in the factories managed by his brother Samuel.Nevertheless, Belarus and Sweden are hardly comparable not only in the 2020 ruleof law standards but also in their governance of the pandemic. Swedish authoritieshave introduced mild restrictions and provided clear recommendations relying on itswell-informed citizens to practice social distancing on a mostly voluntary basis. It canbe argued that this choice is akin to gambling with citizens’ lives with a rationale tosacrifice some citizens now for an uncertain saving of future lives (the current deathtoll is several times higher than in neighboring countries, with vulnerable peopleespecially affected), and with the intention to achieve “herd immunity” and resistanceto the second COVID-19 wave expected in the fall. Certain stricter measures arealso in place in Sweden – in particular, all public gatherings of more than 50 peoplehave been prohibited. In contrast, the strategy of the Belarusian authorities is farfrom clear – specifically in relation to the full-fledged military parade arranged in May2020, which defied common sense and risked thousands of citizens being exposedto the virus, including especially vulnerable, elderly war veterans. Furthermore, thegovernment spent a fortune on the event, while at the same time Belarusians arecrowdfunding personal protective equipment for medical staff.  To sum up, we face a paradoxical situation where democratic states seem toembrace autocratic methods in the face of the unknown, and an authoritarianstate fails to deploy the tools inherent to it, while explicitly and rather emphaticallydemonstrating its authoritarian essence through the beloved show-off attribute ofautocrats, a military parade.- 4 -

The State of Denial Amidst a Military Parade: COVID-19 in Belarus

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The State of Denial Amidst a Military Parade: COVID-19 in Belarus

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