The United Transitional Cabinet has adopted a resolution proposing the granting of pensions and benefits to participants in the Belarusian partisan resistance movement, as well as to their relatives in the event of the participants’ death.
“Belarusians continue their struggle for democracy and Belarus’s independence — this is an undeniable fact. Unfortunately, the current state, usurped by the Lukashenka regime, stands on the opposite side of this struggle and is effectively waging it against those on whom the very existence of the Republic of Belarus depends. With this resolution, the Cabinet demonstrates how any healthy state should behave toward those who fight for it.
I would also like to add another important point. Thousands of Belarusians have passed through or are unlawfully held in the prisons of the Lukashenka regime. They are political prisoners — this is a human rights status.
The Cabinet’s resolution, as an institution of a proto-state, in turn effectively grants these people an additional status corresponding to their important historical and socio-political role in the life of the Republic of Belarus. It assumes responsibility not only to record this role for the future, but already today, right now, to fight for the freedom of each and every one of them using all means available to us, including international and sanctions pressure,” Deputy Head of the United Transitional Cabinet Pavel Latushka commented on the resolution.
The Cabinet’s representative for defense and national security, Vadzim Kabanchuk, noted that the resolution concerns various groups that carried out resistance activities.
“With this resolution, the United Transitional Cabinet has demonstrated to Belarusians that all efforts, all sacrifices shown by our society will not be forgotten. Every hero will receive their reward.
The resistance movement was diverse; it evolved. There were, for example, such groups as the ‘railway partisans,’ the Alinevich groups, and the ‘Black Nightingales.’ We pay attention to all groups of patriots, regardless of the instruments of struggle they used.
We emphasize that we value people’s contributions and their sacrifice. History and time will put everything in its place. These young men and women will enter Belarusian history textbooks as heroes,” he said.
“For me, the adoption of this resolution is first and foremost about recognizing people who paid a high price for Belarus’s independence and dignity. The state must see this contribution and assume responsibility for supporting such people.
The document lays the foundation for further work: within its framework, specific and realistic mechanisms of social assistance, rehabilitation, and guarantees will be developed. We are talking about systemic solutions that should become part of transitional period policy.
It is very important that the resolution also takes into account the families of those who were killed. This is a matter of justice and human solidarity, without which it is impossible to build a new Belarus.
Our task is to ensure that people who stood up to defend the country’s freedom know that in the future the state will stand by them and act responsibly,” said the Cabinet’s representative for social policy, Volha Zazulinskaya.
The resolution stipulates that participants in the movement are entitled, under a procedure defined by a democratic government, to monthly assistance and a pension not lower than the national average pension, priority access to various forms of assistance, state support for housing construction and acquisition, admissions benefits, free legal aid, and other social protection measures.