Repent! Belarusians mock prosecutors after 'come-back' call

It is not so easy to repent / Collage by Ulad Rubanau, Euroradio
It is not so easy to repent / Collage by Ulad Rubanau, Euroradio

Belarusians have launched a petition addressed to Prosecutor General Andrei Shved with the title "We demand that the website of the Prosecutor General's Office be unblocked for Belarusians abroad". This is a reaction to the creation of a commission for the return of those who left Belarus. In order to repent and ask to return home, you have to apply on the website of the General Prosecutor's Office. But its website is blocked outside Belarus.

According to Uladzimir Kavalkin, the creator of the platform Petitions.by, where the appeal appeared, the petition looks like trolling. Also, it was written by an AI tool.

Euroradio has learned more about the petition and how Belarusians are reacting to it. 
 

"It will increase the transparency and accountability of the Prosecutor General's Office"

Белорусы троллят прокуратуру: покаяться ей сложно — сайт заблокирован за рубежом
This is what the Prosecutor General's website looks like when viewed from abroad / petitionsby.site

It's probably very difficult to guess that the petition was not written by a person. Here's part of it:

"...This commission plays an important role in ensuring the safety and well-being of our citizens who wish to return to Belarus from abroad.

We understand that the inaccessibility of the website of the Prosecutor General's Office from abroad may be due to various reasons.However, regardless of the reason, this situation has created a significant barrier for me and many other citizens of Belarus who are abroad and need assistance. 

Белорусы троллят прокуратуру: покаяться ей сложно — сайт заблокирован за рубежом
The petition was published on February 8. On the afternoon of February 9, it collected 43 signatures / petitionsby.site

Our source notes that people show interest in this issue.

"People come and sign, people are amused. The petition is a vivid example of Aesop's language, when formally it is an official text, but between the lines people show their attitude to Lukashenka's regime in this way.

And it reveals the whole nature of the Belarusian state administration where all these politicians and so-called officials are engaged in profanation instead of real work. They create some commissions that are supposed to work, but they absolutely forget that their sites are closed to people who are supposed to use the information. Basically, people cannot use it.

The whole story with the return of the allegedly mistaken people is just a PR campaign to show Lukashenka and his officials in a good light, the expert believes. So, is falling for it really worth it?

"In fact, it is clear that they will not try to find a middle ground. The proof is that the people who could write them an appeal or a statement cannot access the site. They have launched this initiative only for themselves and to create a propaganda image on TV, not to make it work in real life.

I see that this is completely useless. People are having fun, trolling the authorities, joking about it. I don't see it being taken seriously. People like to amuse themselves with jokes and trolling, why not?" Uladzimir Kavalkin concludes.

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