Kristina Rikhter, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya's Advisor on Legal Affairs, commented on Lukashenka's decree establishing an automated payment incident processing system within Belarus' National (Central) Bank:
“This step was presented as a measure to strengthen the fight against financial fraud, but we all know what the regime will actually use this mechanism for.
The system will collect information covered by bank secrecy and provide access to it to law enforcement bodies. This not only threatens Belarusians' personal data, but also opens up new opportunities for tracking Belarusians who have donated to solidarity foundations to help political prisoners and repressed individuals or to support Ukraine. In fact, any transfer that the regime deems "untrustworthy" may lead to persecution.
In a democratic society, a judicial procedure is required to gain access to legally protected secrets. This serves as a kind of guarantee against arbitrary actions of law enforcement agencies and unlawful use of this information.
Such a system will create a guise of "protection against fraud" and become a tool to further intensify political pressure and terror against Belarusians who support democratic changes in the country.
If you have donated to solidarity foundations, please take care of your safety. If you use bank transfers or online payments, leave these tools only for utility payments and purchases of goods for household needs. For everything else, Belarusians will have to use cash or other means of payment.
We are monitoring every step of the regime and call on the international community to review such "laws" to assess their legality”.
