Ales and Tatyana have been together for 25 years. They were detained on the same day and did not see each other for more than four years, but they never stopped loving each other. Now the family is finally together in Warsaw and is starting life from scratch.
My name is Ales Birulia, and my wife’s name is Tatyana. We are from Salihorsk. We have been together for 25 years and raised two children. We are former political prisoners. After more than four years apart, we are finally together again in Warsaw and trying to start our lives over.
I have received a residence card, enrolled in an integration programme, and am looking for work. Tatyana and our daughter, who has also joined us, are waiting for a decision on their international protection applications, so they cannot work yet. But we need to pay for housing, buy food, and cover basic necessities right now.
Before 2020, we lived an ordinary life: I had worked in construction for almost my entire life, and in recent years I was self-employed, working at the market. Tatyana is originally from a village, and politics had always seemed far removed from us. But after the elections, we could no longer stay on the sidelines: we took part in marches, distributed protest newspapers and leaflets, and left inscriptions. In December 2021, we were detained on the same day and each sentenced to six years in a correctional facility. Then the pressure extended to our children: our daughter was held at the district police department for almost 24 hours and threatened with imprisonment, just like her parents, while the state declared our underage son an orphan, even though both of us were alive.
Tatyana and I did not see each other for more than four years. In the remand centre, we left inscriptions on the walls of the exercise yard, and those few words were enough for us to know that the other was alive, holding on, and not giving up. In the correctional facility, Tatyana suffered from blood poisoning, while I lost my father, mother, and brother, and I was not allowed to say goodbye to them.
Tatyana was released in September 2024. I was deported to Ukraine in December 2025. And it was only in the spring of 2026 that we finally reunited in Warsaw. We stood side by side again and, despite everything, still loved each other.
Our home, the graves of our loved ones, and most of our lives remain in Belarus. We are used to managing on our own, but today we have to ask for support. It will help us keep a roof over our heads while we sort out our work and paperwork.
If you can help, we will be sincerely grateful for every euro. If you cannot, please share our story: perhaps someone who can support us will see it.
Long live Belarus!
Fundraising goal
€4000
€2500 — rent for 4 months
€1500 — food, transport, and other essential everyday expenses