Belarusian Police Officers See Their Details Leaked Online by Hackers

• Hackers have decided to expose Belarusian police officers' identities, as these people are responsible for keeping Lukashenko in power.
• The network that published the details is asking anyone who knows more about the police officers to share it.
• The political game around the Belarus situation is underway, and it has international dimensions.

As the social struggle in Belarus continues unabated, the police in the country are called to play an increasingly dirty role. They arrest peaceful protesters, engage in unnecessary violence, detain them with no good excuse, threaten them, and even torture them in inhumane conditions. Some detainees have even reported being raped by the police while in custody.

The other side's answer came in the form of an information leak, which included the details of 1,003 high-ranking police officers, such as lieutenants and captains. The spreadsheet that was published has names, dates of birth, officer titles, and police department.

While the dataset isn't containing extremely sensitive details like home addresses, for example, it could be used for obtaining more. Nexta, the free news agency that published the data, is calling anyone who knows the addresses, phone numbers, car numbers, habits, mistresses/lovers of the exposed officers to share them with the anti-Lukashenko media network.

Nexta is playing a key role in Belarus, and this is why a few weeks ago, someone tried to imitate it through an Android app that was basically spyware.

Related: Android App on Play Store Uncovered as Belarusian Spyware

The response from the Belarusian Ministry of Internal Affairs came during the weekend, confirming the validity of the leaked information and warning that the dissemination of this data constitutes a crime. Still, Nexta's anonymous operators stated that as long as the unlawful detentions continue, the leaks will keep on being published - and that no one will remain anonymous under a balaclava.

Police officers cannot be forgiven for the role they are playing right now, even if someone could argue that they are following orders from powerful and long-established politicians.

At this point, and after more than a month since the presidential election in Belarus that is widely regarded as rigged, the police and the army are the only things that keep Lukashenko at the helm. That, and Russian cash injections, of course. This weekend, Minsk's streets were filled by thousands of protesters again who demanded Lukashenko to step down. Still, the state continues to play deaf, accusing foreign forces of instigating this action.

At the same time, the EU sanctions on Belarus have stuck due to a block by Cyprus, as the small island-nation is demanding strict measures to be announced against Turkey as well, to unlock its stance on the Lukashenko matter.