welcome to a week w. . alone a very warm welcome indeed to focus on europe with me peter craven and we begin in belarus where 20 years ago death squads targeted opposition politicians now exclusive don't chevelle or research shows how those politicians disappeared without trace after being killed in cold blood and there seems to be little doubt that the order came from the very heart of the country's leadership. the suspected

his men were apparently members of elite units loyal to the head of state in belarus that is alexander lukashenko their official mission combating organized crime. but the units where it also seems tasked with liquidating political opponents in order to bolster the offshore it's hereon regime the president lukashenko still today rules with an iron fist one man whose name is your account of ski was a senior member of such a special unit and in conversations with our reporters he's provided some telling testimony. you read the says he was involved in the murder of belorussian opposition figures over 20 years ago now he wants to come clean he's currently applying for asylum where we cannot disclose. the belorussian secret service might come after him. i received information that they either wanted to arrest me or put

me in jail. but i don't want to be locked up or give testimony or me and hues of something i did not even do. them. with a rough ski broke his hip in a car accident and. he was operated on in the country where he is now seeking asylum garaged he has recovered and no longer needs crutches but he's certain that his traffic accident was actually an attempt to kill him he finally wants to speak out about his role in the assassination of belorussian opposition figures. 20 years ago 3 opposition politicians vanished without a trace in the belorussian capital minsk among them was that then interior minister your reason. on the evening of may 7th 1909 had parked his car in front of the old fire station in central minsk he left his car and made his way home by foot.

according to the testimony of key witness. 2 men followed the minister. 2 further men then blocked his path. he says they were undercover members of the elite sober unit. one then told the police follow us. although the political situation in belarus was turbulent at the time that had been a leading opposition politician and had been determined to stop the country's turning into a full fledged dictatorship his aim was to oust president look. in the mid 1990 s. organized to controversial referenda that effectively consolidated his dictatorship he stripped parliament of its powers even ignoring lawmakers on hunger strike since then has ruled the roost with an iron fist the country is deemed europe's last

remaining dictatorship and the epitome of a police state. was 18 years old at the time after completing his military service he joined the newly founded elite sober unit where he served for 5 years and rose up the ranks. he has copies of documents from the time as evidence. he keeps the originals at a secret location. this here is my special forces veterans association membership card. is issued only to people who served in combat units to the interior ministry i was deputy commander of the 1st unit this id card is only issued to sober members. bella ruse has many elite special force units all of which are loyal to look at. the official purpose of so was to combat smugglers and organized crime though he says that wasn't its only role.

according to the minister did not resist his abduction he was taken to a military training area northeast of minsk. on the right there he reportedly asked his captors to make his death as painless as possible. he says he then handed a special assassination gun to one of the officers. was shot at close range and instantly died. where in munster a small town in northwestern germany. suckering close wife and 2 daughters live here in exile. as well as their children who never met their granddad. elena oldest daughter. she works as a saleswoman and is the only family member willing to talk about their experience.

this is the 1st time she is confronted with testimony about the murder of her father. she reacts skeptically but also deeply moved. it's difficult to learn about all this and to see the place where he was buried and to hear how he died you need nerves of steel for the. president look at and go has so far refused to shed light on the suspected murder of the opposition figures even the council of europe investigators believe he might have orchestrated their disappearance which is why he has been persona non grata in the west for years. in november however he made an official state visit to austria. at the press conference he was asked about the disappearance of the opposition politicians. but he refused to comment. claims he was forced to participate but he also says he feels guilty towards the victim's

relatives and wants to aid the investigation. through scream i asked for the my sincere condolences as i was involved in these murders. would be the bridge i apologize to them you look at the burial sites and i'm up you know what i mean you know. everything else know the pens and them and the bell rusin justice system a lot of this is. elaine is that correct co is struggling to find the right words after hearing graphs he confessed to his involvement in her father's murder. at the new and. evil yet this is not about this is about the system he was a part of you can't blame him for anything it is people like him were dependent on the system and up you know they were forced to carry out bloody crimes like these it is. each year a vigil is held in minsk in remembrance of the ranko and the other politicians who disappeared. he says he knows what happened to them as well 20 years after these

events the truth about hit squads in belo roofs might finally come to light. well it certainly chilling stuff and that testimony will surely be of interest to the council of europe special investigator who has long believed that the order to kill was issued from. now on a very different note british prime minister boris johnson has it seems finally got what he wants after more than 3 years of torture at an acrimonious debate it's going to happen bragg states the united kingdom's exit from the e.u. is just a couple of weeks away now as a result many foreigners living and working in the u.k. say they no longer feel welcome and i think lose a significant number of people from the baltic republicans latvia and now they're going but starting another new life it's far from easy. no more big ben no tower bridge and goodbye to bricks it more and more latvians are

turning their backs on britain and building lives for themselves here in riga. context has already taken this step he spent 7 years living in studying in britain . now he's working for a lack in construction company enrica the bricks it referendum changed his life forever. i was shocked so it's because of the way all these things that were warned before beforehand all these i'm can only get book ations of course which is a book for me as a student and a potential future workforce i decided to make decisions go back to libya. he had dreamed of working in the british auto industry now he heads the accounting department here at 1st it was like taking a step back in time. for my 1st off the euro you know i was sort of not sure about it i was. made a decision without crystallized and i don't think i'm going to make any other

future in any other country. has also left the u.k. and returned to latvia the uncertainty about living in a britain that's no longer in the e.u. drove him to leave. back in england 2 tins operated a small gardening business now he wants to make a fresh start he's arranged to meet fellow gardener she and her staff attend the grounds of reagan's only croquet club. but he hopes to get some advice but the weather is giving him 2nd thought to shape the gardening season is much shorter here in southern england it was 10 months long. as we start mowing lawns just before christmas and started again in february. it's made in response hard to imagine how you can survive the winter here how you can make a living as a gardener in latvia but there's also a big discrepancy in pay some of it. britain is home to

more than 100000 elections many moved here after lexia joined the e.u. because the wages were good or in the wake of the financial crisis. on sundays children take classes at a lefty and house in london learning the latvian language learning songs and their own culture helps them stay connected to their homeland. for months breck's it has been causing turmoil a worry for many latvians what about their residency status what about their pensions. at a reception in the last few an embassy they speak with their foreign minister many tell him that the attitude towards foreigners has changed dramatically here. at the other end of the open dark hole they should have ever to swallow that i've never experienced before they actually came out with. abuse to people who

was speaking the same language to a state i thought that was desperately sad. i mean it's let feehan foreign minister edgar's drink a vigil travelled specially to london to woo the ex-pats to return home of the he sees it as an opportunity for latvia. i would say the brics it globally was good if i play say in the sales got the credit before stopping 3 saying what they want to do in the future if your carrier you leave us maybe some of them really got a 2nd look at the chance to return. but readjusting to life in latvia isn't easy for many moral reason knows that all too well she lived in britain for several years herself. so she another return ease founded the group with world experience in life via most of its members are 30 somethings who's the things the chaos surrounding bricks it will lead more latvians to return

uncertainty and the perception that perhaps if not then what will happen with their children what will happen with the next generation i think those are still open questions that i'm sure i'm sure that people do have those concerns and thoughts and and. ways of course that is more likely to push them to come back rather than make them stay. at a tango session in riggers old town asters 2 tins is making new contacts. 3 months after returning he still feels a bit out of step with life in latvia yet he also knows britain is no longer the place for him. now germany's northern both exporter of rostock front itself in the spotlight this past summer when it became the 1st city in the country to elect a normal german mayor close through a madsen whose have danish citizen was voted into office on an independent thinkers

of the questionings how's he going to go down with the locals well perhaps one of the best places to find out is the traditional german christmas market. the largest christmas markets in northern germany and it dana in the middle. close months and that's not a guy now i can open the christmas market in 5 minutes i hope it's around the corner before i get into trouble i'll go ahead. and there santa claus hi santa. i don't know but you'd be saying something later something spontaneously i don't have anything prepared. main thing is to say something like no that was still christmas market this opened ok it's my office calling probably nervous about whether i. follow. the mare marched unprepared to the opening and the town hall is worried. i'm sorry no big deal i'm here with santa

claus couldn't have a better advisor. the town hall isn't used to his relaxed money yet german brock received meets danish offhanded this that's what election was a test of courage for him but voters in rostock he believes also were courageous. and. can be proud to be the 1st big city in germany with a foreign mare which proves how cosmopolitan rostock is and it's cool when people say hey we're about the content not the passport passed on to me you know you don't feel in large files in this desk copenhagen is this role model like the danish metropolis is to become a bicycle city. there is enough space out there to create something really intelligent both in tunica and this also the commodore hams we could have an idea competition or something for a bicycle friendly downtown. politics close to citizens this is how rostock once to counter the political trend towards right wing populism which

months and experienced themself. there are a few who write to me directly about things they don't like is that how to write it . well they're a little more to the point for example. well there's a comment or 2 about the fact that i'm not german he thought i. was. back to the christmas markets and it's not a home game matson was previously a furniture dealer and not a master of ceremonies. and say something so dear children i'm supposed to open the christmas market is that cool who. might think that mega cool if i were not mer i would like to be santa claus. i know why because he only has to work once a year. he was elected because voters believed he would be able to tackle the own

we'll be german administration that he is danish is seen by some as an advantage but not by everyone. you have to be willing to accept change but don't know if it's ready for that. you might get to you know conscious a german no foreign i think it's a bit silly. but he doesn't have a german passport. i don't really understand that there are people who have 2 passports german and another one i don't know why he hasn't got a german passport stick to it i have my danish passport and no other and i think that's right why. well but because it's a fact if someone was born in germany and moved to london he doesn't become an englishman. the new job as mayor can have its pitfalls is trouble finding the entrance 1st next appointment finally he's led in. a discussion in a high school on the topic of education. and then i can go through the indian

market 8th graders get grades for the 1st time here it's stress from the 2nd grade what kind of grades do painter and hands have been or. i don't even know the names of all these daily exercises and tests examinations it's insane in the you know when it comes to education the germans can certainly learn from the danes they're far ahead. that's for the christmas markets are concerned according to meir madsen rostock is the best. again a change of mood in the week as are a turkey ethnic minority many of whom were held in force detention in a network of internment camps in china's north western region of shin's yeah now critics accuse china of subjecting the witches in these camps to indoctrination and abuse and that has prompted a growing number of base mainly muslim community to seek refuge in the turkish city of east and book among them is go over who's been sharing details of her treatment

in change with our reporter. going for walk with her grandson just over a year ago. wouldn't have dreamt it was possible at the time she was in china in an internment camp for a week hundreds of thousands of members of the predominantly muslim minority are believed to be health that the leadership in beijing calls them education santas. this is from the day i was arrested when the till about the states my name my birth date and that i'm a terrorist it was a good boss says the chinese authorities never explained why they thought she was a terrorist. she tells us about the cruel conditions in the camps about torture. and sure mediation will throw the sock away with

a lot of the ever spoke weaker was locked up in a dark cell we also had to write out lines of praise to the chinese communist party but the. current 10 days we got an injection in our arm we don't know what it was in the us the most about the younger women stopped having their periods was like that the. that the we had to do sit ups in the nude didn't matter if you were 14 or 80 for. us that's how they violated our honor the cooked. when i was finally released she fled to istanbul like many other week is around 25000 now live here ethnic religious and cultural ties with turkey have made building new lives easier for them they say but most we get to hear because they feel safer in istanbul than in china.

in this primary school in istanbul for example it is quite normal for the children to learn reka. singing reading or writing in their mother tongue. the teachers see a say in china that would be impossible. china's ambassador to turkey considers the criticism to be unjustified he says his government has done a lot to develop the week a province change on and he rejects reports of human rights violations. the education centers are not prisons here they are not concentration camps. the media claim this in order to dramatize the situation. in fact these places are more like boarding schools with us and the human rights of the students are respected. so you know what i have the impression that some media and others are abusing this subject to cap. china's change on policy in

a bad light. and yet all the week as we meet in istanbul say that some of the relatives back home have gone missing up to rahman talk to for example he hasn't heard from his children and his wife in over 3 years at that time they went to china to visit the family they never came back to talk to recently discovered this video online it appears to be a chinese propaganda clip the boy says is his son. who does what's your name accuracies your age for home country people's republic of china. after 3 years the 1st sign of life for my child the last time i saw him when he was very young he could only say mom and dad now he speaks chinese when i saw that i cried my eyes out all the breaks my heart. devastated oregon goldman.

also knows dozens of such stories she herself made it out of chain junk to freedom but the horror in the camps changed her she says all she has left now is to tell her story so that the world won't forget the fate of the weakest. and the really can be no doubt that the time has come for the world to listen more closely to the story of the we judge people. now they're longer and thin crisp and crunchy the great french baguettes a national institution however france is it seems not just a proud but also a wasteful nation where useful to over it's bread which prompted one in a bit of bacon to come up with the great french really break. our daily bread. day after day it's thrown away by the ton so almost 4 years ago friends became the 1st country worldwide to ban food waste by supermarkets stores

now face fines if they throw away edible food rather than donate it to charitable organizations from kool aid has found a way to make day old bread new again he designed the crumble or to make bread crumbs. by security this i wanted to prevent waste but also produce quality. to ensure high quality in germany it's recommended that fresh bread contain no more than 6 percent recycled bread crumbs but uses 20 percent the rest of the recipe remains unchanged yet when it comes to france's famous baguette bakers remain wary nor hillary that because of bakers was thrilled with the idea of being able to use their day old bread to make new bread so for a moment it's just that the big get the sacred here so we don't touch the recipe or is that what our new method allows us to bake new types of bread that look like the gets would keep the pot. they're just call something different and so in fact the

baguette. so that i get every day was born literally the baguette that evaded being thrown away like. you know even cookies are being made and tire leaf from old bread so there's nothing stale about the way they taste so. they're simple but they taste great just like regular cookies yet not their perfect one. 70 bakeries are currently using the crumbly to recycle their day old bread and reduce their food waste and well it would be happy if more joined in. the ability dongles we were told me so of course i'd like this idea to be employed an all day course that will cut this is so that ultimately no bread is thrown away no more than of the broader it's recycled into new high quality tasty recipes that please everyone will use that. well a says producers need to act more responsibly when it comes to food stuffs to meet the demands of customers and our planet. are

a lot on focus from europe this time around to join us again soon by by trips.

conflicts with sebastian. china's recent celebrations for some of your kind of mastery weren't quite the public relations triumph it was supposed to be my guest this week here in london is a victim of golf how does he justify china's comes along the full human rights abuses i'm a continuing pressure on hong kong complex so far. 30 minutes off w. o.

bottoms of the what is the game here for deep dump trucks trying to talk about. the sauce on coverage. 3 more points. all we have. let's have a look at some of the other much drama leave you still shaking in that blue flood the brief a sigh of relief so you don't want to. lose this gut d.w. . to know that 77 percent. are younger than 6 o'clock playoffs me and me and you. and you know what it's time all voices. on the subject to some of the same speech obama preclusion. this is where you cut. the 77

percent this weekend on d.w.i. . they created today's rules. a historical trimming regional politics business traveler play run up people of the islamic republic lists. hopes of making its initial flirtation those strengths in states of emergency the 2 sinks into chaos flame pope john paul 2 2nd display a chance the people of the freshman studio border play the white car suspending. the start of an era that defines overmanaged to play 19 such a big clue to display stamps december 23rd to double. play

. mrs d. w. newsline from berlin britain's parliament opens for the 2nd time in as many months queen elizabeth has delivered a speech setting out to the conservatives agenda under boris johnson following his election victory last week. no surprise the number one priority is delivering bricks it will get the latest from london also coming up the u.s. house of representatives impeaches president donald trump in a historic vote article one. with that gavel becomes just the 3rd.