My name is Dmitry Stagursky, I am 19 years old. I am the brother of Nikolay Stagursky, who was detained for his comments and tried to be recruited. After he left the country, they came to our home several times to search.
The same thing happened in February of this year. That day I was at home, in my agro-town – I was doing my pre-graduation internship there from the Rechitsa Agricultural College. I agreed with the farm that I would come to the farm at 10:00, before that I was at home, washed up and had breakfast. Then I heard someone start pounding on the door. I looked through the peephole – there were two men in civilian clothes. The door was not closed, so they burst into the apartment, started shoving their ID in my face, saying they were from the police. They immediately took away my phone. And they started searching my brother’s things.
They didn’t find anything, but they didn’t leave me alone either, they took me away for interrogation. There they started saying: «We know that you communicate with your brother. Come on, tell me, maybe he is pulling your strings? Maybe you want to commit some kind of terrorist attack?» I answered that I had no such thoughts, I was only thinking about my studies. Then they started threatening to plant something and lock me up for three years. Later, I heard the security forces talking in the corridor: they were discussing how they could bring me to criminal responsibility.
In the end, they found a subscription to an «extremist» Telegram channel on my phone. This was enough to send me to a temporary holding cell, after stripping me naked. Then there was the isolation cell. There I stood up incorrectly, and they hit me on the right leg — as a result, there was a torn meniscus, it hurt to walk. And at lunchtime they took me to court. Everything was quick: Article 19.11 of the Administrative Code for disseminating extremist materials and 15 days.
During my arrest, I was summoned to the investigator twice, asked about my brother. The last time they threatened again that they would take me to the forest, break my leg, plant something. It was scary. When I was released from the temporary detention, I cried. According to my relatives, I was very pale, lost a lot of weight, was afraid to say anything unnecessary.
After that, I decided to leave – I was scared by threats that they could put me in jail for a long time. And I'm only 19 years old, I don't want to spend this time in a colony. Moreover, the temporary detention has become a lot of stress: I can wake up in the middle of the night, because it seems like I'm in a detention center again.
Now I plan to come to my senses, urgently look for where to get an education. I was expelled from college, so in fact, I only have a high school diploma. At first, I really need support. Thank you!
How much is needed?
€2900
€1500 – accommodation for the first three months
€700 – living expenses and food
€700 – medical expenses