Case of the Union of Liberation of Belarus

The Case of the Union of Liberation of Belarus was a political and criminal case initiated by the GPU of the Belarusian Soviet Republic against several Belarusian scientists and culture activists. The case formed part of a wave of Soviet repressions in Belarus in 1929 - 1931. The GPU accused the victims of membership in a (presumably non-existent) anti-Soviet organization called the Union of Liberation of Belarus (Belarusian: Саюз вызвалення Беларусі). Most of the accused were killed, or expelled to far regions of the USSR.

The case started with the arrest of the editor Piotr Ilyuchonak on February 17. During the spring and summer of 1930 108 people were arrested. At the beginning the GPU saw Vaclau Lastouski (former prime-minister of the Belarusian Democratic Republic), Aliaksandr Tsvikevich and Arkadz Smolich (former agriculture minister of the Belarusian Democratic Republic) as leaders of the organization. Later Aliaksandr Adamovich (a Belarusian nationalist communist politician), Anton Balitski (statesman and writer), Piotr Ilyuchonak and Dzmitry Pryshchepau have been viewed as such. People like the prominent poets Janka Kupala and Jakub Kolas or the first president of the Belarusian Science Academy Usievalad Ihnatouski were at certain stages accused of being members of the ULB.

All arrested, except for 18 people, were sentenced to different terms of deportation. Usievalad Ihnatouski has committed suicide on February 4, 1931. The supposed leaders of the ULB have been sentenced to 10 years of deportation while most of other members have been deported in inner regions of the USSR for 5 years.

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