Last Saturday, that is August 27th, Lukashenko “ultimately dissolved” the issue of Poles in Belarus by delegalizing the Board of the Association of Poles in Belarus (APB), which was democratically elected in March, and appointing new Association authorities, obedient towards the President.

The convention took place in Volkovsk, a provincial city, in the numerous presence of civil servants from the political departments of the state administration and KGB. The delegates were transported to the city by buses escorted by the police. After 15 minutes of the convention, journalists were invited on a trip to a factory, kolchoz and craftsmanship center. The supporters of Angelica Borys – the Chairman up to this point in time – were detained by police officers along the way (that was the case for Stanislaw Poczubut, the brother of Andrzej Poczbut), and even if they managed to reach the building where the proceedings were taking place, they were not allowed to enter the hall.

No-one from the delegalized authorities of the APB could appear at the convention in Volkovsk. Angelica Borys and her deputy Wieslaw Kiewlak were summoned for questioning on Saturday. Tadeusz Gawin, the former Chairman of the APB, serving a prison sentence for supposedly assaulting a fellow prisoner. Andrzej Poczbut, an association journalist, was arrested on Friday.

Józef £ucznik was elected as the new chairman, but despite the fact that he is one of APB’s founders, he has little experience in association activity. Eugeniusz Skrobocki and Kazimierz Znajdziñski, known for their Anti-Polish appearances in propaganda programs on Belarus TV, were appointed as his deputies. Polish authorities do not recognize the results of the elections and have announced that they will withhold financial support for the Association.