TheBelarusianPresidential Guard or officially thePresidential Security Service (Belarusian:Служба бяспекі прэзідэнта Рэспублікі Беларусь,romanized: Sluzhba byaspyeki prezidenta,Russian:Служба безопасности Президента Республики Беларусь) is a law-enforcement body that was designed to protect thePresident of Belarus and other high-ranking officials and officers.
According to the Belarusian opposition, the Presidential Security Service has played a key role in the events around thecontroversial referendum of 1996, which has resulted in the dissolution of the disloyalSupreme Soviet of Belarus and an ultimate concentration of state power in the hands of authoritarian presidentAlexander Lukashenko.[1][2][3]
Before the controversial referendum, the Presidential Security Service has blocked the office of theCentral Election Commission of Belarus[4] and prevented the Head of the commission,Viktar Hanchar from executing his role.[2]Lidia Yermoshina, a member of the Commission loyal to Lukashenko, has been appointed instead of Hanchar. Three years later, Viktar Hanchar has disappeared and was presumably murdered.
After the events, theUnited StatesState Department stated that the Presidential Guard is asecret police force under the control ofPresidentAlexander Lukashenko. The State Department in 1996 stated the guard was allowed to use force "against the President's political enemies with no judicial or legislative oversight."[5]
Sanctions against officers of the Presidential Guard
Several former Heads of the Presidential Security Service have been included in the sanctions lists of theEuropean Union and theUnited States:[6]
Vladimir Naumov as formerMinister of Interior has allegedly failed to investigate the unresolved disappearances of opposition leadersYuri Zakharenko andViktar Hanchar, opposition sponsor Anatoly Krasovski, and journalistDmitri Zavadski in 1999–2000. He has been included in thesanctions list of the European Union in 2011 and is one of four persons remaining under EU sanctions after 2016. He is also on the sanctions list of theUnited States. Besides that, as one of the persons accused of involvement in the disappearances of 1999–2000, Naumov remains one of the few people on the sanctions list of theUnited States.[7]
Yuri Zhadobin has been described in theEU Council's 2012 decision on sanctions as follows:"As a member of the Security Council, he approves the repressive decisions agreed at ministerial level, including the decision to repress the peaceful demonstrations on 19 December 2010. After December 2010, he praised the "total defeat of destructive forces", when referring to the democratic opposition."[8] He has been included in thesanctions list of the European Union in 2011.
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