Alexander Lukashenko is trying to beat protesters into submission

THE MENACING concrete-walled jail on Minsk’s Okrestina Street played a central role in the reign of terror unleashed last week by Alexander Lukashenko, the dictator who has ruled Belarus for the past quarter century, to put down an uprising that has come close to overthrowing him. Prison guards worked overtime on those who dared to protest against Mr Lukashenko’s theft of the presidential election on August 9th. Prisoners were forced to kneel with their hands behind their backs for hours in overcrowded cells. Men and women were stripped, beaten and raped with truncheons. “You wanted change, how’s that for change,” went a widely reported refrain. An admirer of Joseph Stalin, Mr Lukashenko has proved a worthy disciple.