Our family has been involved in the protest movement since 2014. In August 2020 we cast our votes for Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. We sincerely believed that it was time for change in Belarus. We hoped for a bright future. But everyone remembers what happened after the election…
On August 10, 2020 my husband was detained and beaten. He was released a few days later. In spite of this, we went to the Freedom March again on August 16, 2020. We also participated in Christmas rallies, yard concerts, and marches that were held on Sundays. At that time, detentions bypassed us.
But in September 2022 representatives of GUBOPIK in civilian clothes came to us. They searched our apartment and checked our smartphones. They took away our belongings with BCHB symbols and arrested my husband. They brutally beat him in front of his children.
While my husband was in the detention center on Okrestina, he was tortured. He undermined his health there. On December 29, 2022, he was sentenced to serve three years in an open-type correctional facility (“chemo”) without referral. We hoped that they would leave us alone after that, but it turned out differently.
The representatives of the power structures started coming to us up to three times a day. They would check our computers and phones and videotape our apartment. One such visit ended in the arrest of my husband, who was later released without any explanation.
It became unsafe for us to stay in Belarus and wait for another arrest. I left for Poland with my children. My husband is still in Belarus. We are looking for financial support for the first time after the move.
Thank you!
How much is needed?
€1545 Payment of the apartment with a deposit.