Good afternoon.
My name is Evgeni Barouski, until 2020 I lived in Minsk.
In October 2020, during the dispersal of the march near the Pushkinskaya metro station, I stood up for a man who was beaten with batons by riot police. We, together with other participants of the march, defended this man, snatched him out of the hands of law enforcers. But we were not forgiven for this.
I was detained a few days later, when I was leaving a store with a friend. Without introducing themselves, five men in balaclavas came at me and hit me several times. They informed me that I was detained only when they handcuffed me. On the way to the police station they questioned me and, if they did not like the answer, beat me. They threatened that if I lied again in their opinion, I would not get out of the minibus alive.
In April 2021, the court sentenced me to 4 years in a penal colony. As soon as I arrived at the colony, I was given a yellow label* and immediately sent to the SHIZO**. Later I was regularly sent there for the slightest misdemeanor. One day I was sent to the SHIZO for going out in my slippers to smoke. At the same time, other prisoners without yellow tags smoked in their slippers without being punished.
When I was in penal colony 15, I was so sick for three weeks that I thought I would die. They did not give me any treatment, only antipyretics. At the same time I was not released from work and 5 days a week I was carrying iron pipes with high fever. I was also refused to receive a parcel with medicines from the outside.
After I was released from prison, I still had a large court debt — a fine for moral damages to the OMON officers who had been injured. I could not pay it, because with my certificate from the colony I was not hired anywhere. When the KGB started calling me and inviting me for interviews, I realized that I had to flee the country. I was not allowed to travel, so I evacuated to Poland at my own risk.
At the present time I found myself financially in a desperate situation. Since childhood I had grown up without parents. While I was in the colony, my wife filed for divorce, and at the moment I simply have no one to rely on. I am asking for help for the first time while I find a job here. I need a little: to rent a place to live, to buy warm clothes and essentials, as I evacuated lightly.
I will be grateful to all people who are not indifferent to my story!
*Yellow tags are patches on the prison clothes of political prisoners as a sign that they are placed on the professional register as “prone to extremism and other destructive actions”. They are checked more often than ordinary convicts, they sleep at the entrance by the door and exclusively on the second tier, and they are in the front rows of the colony. After the criminal record is expunged, they are prohibited from certain professions for another five years and may be subject to other restrictions.
**SIZO (punitive isolation cell) in a Belarusian prison is a room where prisoners can be placed for various violations of the prison regime. It is a peculiar form of punishment inside the prison, applied to those who violate discipline or rules set by the administration.
How much is needed?
€2400
€1600 — rent for 3 months + deposit
€500 — food for 3 months
€300 — clothing and shoes for winter, basic necessities