Yeah. Lukashenko's a dictator, and over his career he has not shied away from the repressive tactics that that job tends to require. Not a nice man.

But on the other hand, what's going on now stinks to high heaven. If you ask me, Brussels or Washington or maybe both are trying to depose him, install someone globohomo-friendly instead, and pull Belarus into their orbit. It's like the Arab Spring. This kind of thing doesn't happen on its own, and the fact that the media is giving it so much attention makes it clear that something's up. On top of that, I don't recall that this kind of "regime change" has ever actually made a country a better place for its citizens. It seems the best you can hope for is more of the same (like Egypt), and the worst is total collapse (like Libya).