Belarusian Opposition Leader Attacked After Lukashenko’s Wild ‘Burn Them Alive’ Claim

A former Belarusian government minister-turned opposition activist says an attack against him in Warsaw on Wednesday was provoked by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko claiming he had once plotted to burn the Belarusian opposition alive.

Pavel Latushka made the claim on the X platform on Wednesday, reporting that a trash can had been thrown at him during a gathering at the University of Warsaw.He also said he had received numerous death threats and “warnings about planned provocations against me.”

The opposition activist, who served as Minsk’s minister of culture from 2009 to 2012 and is now the deputy of opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, said he was attending a function at the university’s Center for East European Studies.

“The attacker threw a [trash] can at me and shouted to the entire room that I am a ‘traitor and wanted to burn oppositionists’, repeating Lukashenko’s lies from yesterday,” Latushka posted.

Plot to ‘burn opposition alive’

In a previous post, Latushka attached a video of Lukashenko apparently delivering a speech on July 1. In the address, which is subtitled in English, the Belarusian strongman leader claims that in August 2020, Latushka had plotted to gather the whole of the opposition in one building in Minsk and burn them alive.

“Why? To become the sole leader of this whole stinking opposition,” Lukashenko is subtitled as saying.

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Lukashenko went on to claim he foiled the plot and saved the opposition by deploying security forces to protect them.

Violent suppression

In 2020, Latushka was the general director of Belarus’s oldest theater, the Yanka Kupala National Academic Theatre in Minsk, which became a focal point for support of opposition demonstrations against Lukashenko’s re-election for a sixth term in a vote widely seen as rigged.  

The main opposition runner in the ballot was Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who has been the de facto opposition leader in exile since. The announcement of Lukashenko’s victory led to widespread mass protests across Belarus. 

The demonstrations were violently put down, and Latushka and actors at the theater publicly called for the perpetrators of the suppression to face justice. Their actions led to Latushka’s dismissal along with many theater staff and actors. 

Changing sides  

The former culture minister had held numerous diplomatic positions since 1995, including that of Belarusian ambassador to Poland from 2002 to 2008. He also served as Minsk’s envoy to France, Monaco and UNESCO. 

Following the contested 2020 election, Latushka became a member of the presidium of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s Coordination Council and went on to become the deputy of her Transition Cabinet. After being interrogated by Belarusian security officers in August 2020, Latushka fled to Poland where he has lived ever since. 

Later the same year, he became the head of the National Anti-Crisis Management, a shadow-government organization committed to a peaceful transition of power in Belarus.  

In 2023, Latushka was one of many senior opposition figures tried for high treason and conspiracy to seize power. He was sentenced in absentia to 18 years in prison.