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Journalism of Courage
A leading medical specialist on the legacy of the Chernobyl nuclear accident is being held in prison in Belarus amid allegations that his arrest was organised to stifle a campaign to expose the ongoing after-effects of the disaster. Professor Yury Bandashevsky, an internationally renowned expert on the effects of radiation exposure, was arrested at his home in the middle of the night four months ago and charged with bribe-taking.
Colleagues insist that state officials fabricated the charge to silence his criticism of the government’s handling of the effects of the disaster’s radioactive fallout. If they are right, his arrest is an example of a new desire in the Belarussian leadership to play down the long-term effects of the catastrophe not least because the country is too poor to effectively combat the problems.
In recent years, Belarus has negotiated a fine line between dismissing the after-effects internally to reassure an anxious population and to reclaim vast areas of abandoned agricultural landwhile stressing the ongoing problems to the west to encourage the flow of aid.
In addition to setting up a medical training school in Gomel, at the heart of the worst-affected region, Bandashevsky also conducted research into the consequences of the catastrophe, and his findings proved dangerously controversial. While Belarussian medical officials admit links between the accident and thyroid cancer and leukaemia, he appeared to have identified firm connections between the presence of radiation and of heart and kidney disease.
Moreover, he was bitterly critical of the way the ministry of health was spending the scant resources available for research: not long before his arrest he sent an open letter to the Belarussian president, Alexander Lukashenko, with details of how the funds had been misspent.
Bandashevsky was arrested under legislation designed to “combat terrorism and other especially violent crimes”. For almost a month he was held in isolation and has not been granted bail. Belarussian lawyersaffirm that these are surprisingly harsh measures to take against someone charged with bribe-taking; in any case, no firm evidence has been produced against him. Scientists from across Europe have been dismayed to learn of Bandashevsky’s arrest. Professor Michel Fernex, from the University of Basle, Switzerland, said: “He was one of a few courageous scientists who moved to the contaminated area after the accident. His work was very important.”
A few miles outside Gomel looms the shell of a half-constructed hospital, which was intended for Chernobyl’s victims. Its concrete frame was abandoned due to lack of funds. Svetlana Goldade, Gomel’s former mayor, said the unfinished project was symbolic of the changing official attitude to the accident.
“Bandashevsky wanted the state to teach people how to live in the shadow of Chernobyl,” she said. “Increasingly, the state wants to pretend that shadow does not exist.”
— The Observer News Service
