Aliaksandr Azarau (Belarusian: Аляксандр Азараў, Russian: Александр Азаров) is a former police investigator in Belarusian security services including the Investigative Committee of Belarus and GUBOPiK.[1][2] As of 2022[update], he is head of the Belarusian opposition police group BYPOL.[1][3] Azarau was responsible for law and order as a member of the United Transitional Cabinet of the Belarusian opposition from August 2022[4] to 6 August 2023.[5]
Aliaksandr Azarau | |
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_(52845004779)_(cropped).jpg){kind=spacer} Aliaksandr Azarau at the conference in Warsaw (2022) | |
| Born | 4 February 1977  Minsk |
| Alma mater |
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| Occupation | Criminal investigator |
| Employer |
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Childhood and early education
editAzarau was born in Minsk in 1976 or 1977 (age 47–48).[1] He was brought up in Frunzyenski District in Minsk. His father, a construction worker, died from electrocution when Azarau was 11 and his mother was an engineer. Azarau expected to become a banker.[1]
Azarau graduated in law at Belarus Institute of law in 2000.[1]
Police officer
editAfter obtaining his law degree, Azarau started work in the police as an investigator at the Investigative Committee of Belarus. He obtained degrees from Belarus State Economic University and Minsk State Linguistic University while working as an investigator.[1]
Azarau worked at GUBOPiK, a Belarusian security service, from 2008 to around 2018, as a specialist in investigating human trafficking. Azarau claims that from 2015, he "openly defended Ukrainians" within his service, leading to internal conflict.[1] He reached the status of lieutenant-colonel as head of a GUBOPiK unit.[2]
Following his time at GUBOPiK, Azarau was shifted to the Academy of the Minister of the Interior, becoming a lecturer.[1]
BYPOL and United Transitional Cabinet
editAzarau resigned from official police duties and joined BYPOL (Association of Security Forces of Belarus), an organisation of Belarusian former security officers who oppose the Alexander Lukashenko presidency of Belarus.[1] Azarau was the head of BYPOL Foundation when it was created in May 2021.[6]
As head of BYPOL, Azarau judged BYPOL's role in the 2022 rail war in Belarus as having helped to reverse the 2022 Russian military offensive that aimed to conquer Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine.[3]
In August 2022, Azarau was appointed to the United Transitional Cabinet, with responsibility for law and order.[4]
In August 2023, the Belarusian Coordination Council exercised the principle of separation of powers by withdrawing confidence in Azarau as Representative for Law and Order. Tsikhanouskaya implemented the Council's decision by dismissing Azarau from the Cabinet.[7] Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, announced the dismissal on 6 August 2023. Azarau retained a role of work with the Cabinet in implementing the "Victory" plan.[8]
Relation to Lukashenko government
editAzarau sees himself as having never "supported Lukashenko" and aimed to serve the interests of Belarusians.[2][1] He stated that he personally saw fraud in the 2020 Belarusian presidential election and illegal orders of repression in the protests that followed the election.[2]
In May 2021, Azarau estimated that many members of the official Belarusian security forces did not wish to support activities of repression, but worried about being unemployable if they resigned. He predicted that at a "critical moment", only a small number of security forces would defend Lukashenko, and employees who "doubt [and] silently go to work" would support the anti-Lukashenko opposition.[9]
Criticisms
editBelarusian politician and activist Andrei Sannikov stated that because of Azarau's past role in GUBOPiK, Sannikov didn't see how Azarau could be trusted.[10]
On 16 June 2023, Natallia Radzina (Russian: Наталья Радина) alleged in NV.ua that there were suspicions of Azarau working for Belarusian secret services. Radzina stated that after hundreds or thousands of Belarusians registered for the "Peramoga" plan of preparing resistance to the Lukashenko government, many were arrested. She stated that GUBOPiK, Azarau's former employer, had frequently broadcast videos of people who stated that they had been arrested for participation in Peramoga.[11] In July 2023, the group Joint Resistance Staff accused Azarau of working for the Belarusian intelligence directorate (GRU).[12]
Personal life
editAs of 2022[update], Azarau lives in Warsaw with his wife and two daughters who attend school there.[1][2]
Harassment
editBelarusian authorities seized Azarau's Belarusian bank accounts in 2021.[2] Security forces searched Azarau's mother's home, confiscated her electronic devices, and visited people who had telephoned her. Azarau interpreted the events as harassment, that effectively frightened friends and family from contacting his mother.[2]
Azarau believes that Belarusian spies were sent to Poland to spy on Azarau and "eliminate" BYPOL leadership.[2]
On 15 February 2024, Azarau was sentenced to 25 years in prison in absentia. Five other BYPOL founders received lengthy prison terms on the same day.[13] Later that year, he was sentenced again, for the Machulishchy air base attack.[14]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h Gallagher, Ryan (2022-06-15). "A Ragtag Band of Hackers Is Waging Cyberwar on Putin's Supply Lines". Bloomberg L.P. Archived from the original on 2022-11-01. Retrieved 2022-11-02.
- ^ a b Clark, Emily; Suszko, Agnieszka (2022-06-04). "The underground network of Belarusians sabotaging Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine and plotting a revolution at home". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 2022-06-05. Retrieved 2022-11-02.
- ^ a b "Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya announced the United Transitional Cabinet and named its first members". Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. 2022-08-09. Archived from the original on 2022-10-19.
- ^ Śviatłana Cichanowskaja (6 August 2023), 'Only one thing can stop me: if I don't feel support from Belarusians.' Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya's closing remarks at New Belarus Conference 2023, Wikidata Q123508477, archived from the original on 22 November 2023
- ^ "Fundacja BYPOL" [BYPOL Foundation]. National Court Register (in Polish). 2021-05-28. Archived from the original on 2021-08-11. Retrieved 2022-11-02.
- ^ Jakob Wöllenstein (4 June 2024), Political system in Belarus – One nation – two new representative bodies?, Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Wikidata Q130340982, archived from the original on 21 September 2024
- ^ Азарава звольнілі з Пераходнага кабінету, але ён працягне працаваць з падполлем
- ^ "'Work Becomes Unbearable': Police Lieutenant Colonel Telling Truth About Situation Among Law-Enforcers 53". Charter 97. 2021-05-14. Archived from the original on 2021-06-20. Retrieved 2022-11-02.
- ^ "Андрей Санников: Лукашенко долго не протянет" [Andrei Sannikov: Lukashenko won't last long]. Charter 97. 2023-05-08. Archived from the original on 2023-07-18.
- ^ Радина, Наталья (2023-06-16). "Только военный путь? Как освободить Беларусь от Лукашенко" [Only a military path? How to free Belarus from Lukashenko]. NV.ua (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2023-07-18.
- ^ "Belarusian opposition shaken by infiltration accusations". Intelligence Online. 2023-07-06.
Fresh information obtained by the OSH, which has been shared with Intelligence Online, reveals that between 2018 and 2019, a former police officer was secretly seconded by the Ministry of Interior to the Ministry of Defense for training. The secondment was part of an 'unprecedented hybridization operation between the GRU and the GUBOPiK' that began in 2013, according to an OSF spokesperson. The purpose of the operation was to train an asset for undercover work in the Belarusian dissident community
- ^ "Former Belarusian Law Enforcement Officers Sentenced To Lengthy Prison Terms In Absentia". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. February 15, 2024.
- ^ "В Беларуси дали от двух до 25 лет колонии 12 обвиняемым по делу о взрыве на аэродроме, где стоял российский самолет А‑50". Meduza (in Russian). October 4, 2024.