The Dictatorship of "Justice": Why Lukashenko’s Appeals to Judges Are the Highest Form of Cynicism
- Pavel Latushka
- Jan 10
- 5 min read
Why Lukashenko’s Appeals to Judges Are the Highest Form of Cynicism
On January 6, 2026, a ceremonial oath-taking of judges of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court took place in Minsk. Addressing people in judicial robes, the head of the regime, Alexander Lukashenko, uttered a phrase that in any democratic country would sound like a slogan of humanism, but in today’s Belarus sounds like a threat:
"We cannot prescribe everything even in the Constitution, we cannot prescribe everything in laws. But the spirit, the foundation, and the basis are one — justice. And this concerns you first and foremost".
This thesis is not a casual remark. It is a manifesto of a system that has definitively replaced justice with expediency and the rule of law with the personal will of the ruler.
When the dictator tells judges that "you cannot write everything into the law", he gives them a direct carte blanche to ignore legal norms. In a state governed by the rule of law, the law protects citizens from the arbitrariness of power. In Lukashenko’s system, "justice" means whatever is beneficial to the regime at any given moment.
If the law prevents imprisoning an opponent, the judge is invited to follow the "spirit of justice". This approach turns courts into punitive bodies, where the verdict is known even before the hearing begins, and the evidentiary basis is replaced by reports from officers of GUBOPiK.
Special attention should be paid to the figure of the former Chairman of the Supreme Court of Belarus, Valentin Sukalo, who for more than two decades was a key architect of the degradation of the judicial system.
It was under Sukalo that the courts finally lost their independence, politically motivated verdicts became routine, and judges turned into officials servicing the repressive demands of the authorities. Sukalo is not a passive executor, but a systemic accomplice to repression. He built a vertical of loyalty in which a judge’s career advancement directly depended on their willingness to issue decisions required by the regime. Thousands of sentences against political prisoners are not "system errors", but the direct result of his management model.
In effect, Sukalo became the chief legalizer of violence, giving punitive practices the appearance of "judicial procedures". His departure is not a break with the past, but merely the passing of the baton.
The cynicism of the situation is further underscored by personnel changes. At the same event, the new Chairman of the Supreme Court, Andrei Shved, took the oath — a man who previously served as Prosecutor General of Belarus.
This is a fundamentally important moment: for the first time in the country’s modern history, the head of the prosecution has directly taken charge of the highest judicial body, completely erasing even the formal boundary between prosecution and court.
Shved is not a neutral lawyer. As Prosecutor General, he became the architect of the so-called "genocide of the Belarusian people" case, turned historical memory into an instrument of repression, and used criminal law to persecute activists, journalists, and dissenters. Shved’s appointment is a signal: the judicial system is no longer pretending to be independent. It is now officially becoming an extension of the prosecutor’s office.
At the same time, Sergei Sivets, a former MP and regime ideologue, was appointed Chairman of the Constitutional Court. He is known for having for years publicly justified the destruction of the separation of powers, the expansion of Lukashenko’s authority, and the subordination of the Constitution to political expediency. Sivets is not an arbiter between the authorities and society. He is a regime guard at the entrance to the Constitution, whose task is to explain why any decision by Lukashenko "complies with the Basic Law".
Particular attention should be paid to Lukashenko’s direct and demonstrative reference to the situation in Venezuela. Addressing judges of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court, he stated:
"And now, the latest events in our friendly Venezuela. This is where the Constitutional Court played its role and made tough decisions. You see what I warned you about long ago — the turbulence we are witnessing in the world. In such a situation, one must be careful, calm, and not rush. And much will depend on you, judges, chairmen of our courts, judges of the Constitutional Court — very much will depend on you. So keep this in mind…"
Lukashenko is effectively pointing judges to the "correct model of behavior": at a moment of political crisis, the Constitutional Court must not defend the Constitution and the will of the people, but ensure the survival of the regime at any cost by adopting “tough decisions” exclusively in its interests.
Lukashenko’s words about "care for the people" sound against the backdrop of grim statistics. In 2025 alone:
More than 1,250 people were convicted on politically motivated charges.
The total number of political prisoners, despite periodic "pardon shows" for the West, remains critically high — as of January 8, 1,128 people in Belarus are recognized as political prisoners.
The regime has implemented a "pendulum" tactic: releasing 30 people through pardons while arresting 50 new ones in the same month. This is not mercy — it is trade in human lives and an endless cycle of hostage-taking. 342 people were pardoned with U.S. mediation, while 509 people received political prisoner status.
Calls on judges to honor the Constitution look especially mocking. Over recent years, the Basic Law has been rewritten exclusively to legalize the perpetual rule of one person and to grant the All-Belarusian People’s Assembly (VBNS) powers superior to the will of the people.
Today, the Constitution of Belarus is not a social contract, but an instruction manual for exploiting the country — one that its author changes at his own discretion. Judges swearing allegiance to it are pledging loyalty not to the people, but to a document stripped of its original meaning.
The reminder about "justice" from the podium is effectively a confession. In a country where justice is alive, no one shouts about it — it is simply administered. In Belarus, justice was killed in 2020, buried in 2022, and finally sealed in concrete at the All-Belarusian People’s Assembly in 2025.
Lukashenko’s call to be "fair to the people" in reality means: "be ruthless toward the enemies of my regime".This is the criminal cynicism of a system in which a judge’s robe has become merely camouflage for a prison guard’s uniform.
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