Hello.
My name is Ilya Turkov, I am a former political prisoner.
On July 14, 2020, I went to a peaceful protest in support of the arrested presidential candidates. Seeing that the protesters were determined, OMON surrounded us and started using force. We got into a hitch. When one of the guys in the clutch began to be severely detained and beaten, I tried to fight him off. But the forces were unequal, he was dragged to a car, and I was detained at home two weeks after the incident.
I do not consider myself a criminal, and to be in prison was something terribly unfair for me. Only my inner freedom and faith in God helped me to endure the ordeal of the Belarusian prison. I was sentenced for a long 4 years, during which I was supported by my wife and daughter. When I was arrested, my daughter was only 3 years old. She did not understand where daddy had disappeared to. She was told all this time that I was at work. It was only recently that we told her the truth.
The biggest pain of these past 4 years is living without my beloved daughter and spouse. We wrote to each other several times a week. Almost every letter I put a card for Dashenka with words of love and how dear she is to me. My daughter answered my postcards with her drawings. I carefully collected them all and even managed to bring them home. I was touched to the core of my soul by the programs from my wife with all sorts of goodies. I could feel the love and care in every product I bought, and it was more precious to me than the treats themselves.
We were allowed our first long visit only after two years of my imprisonment. We could not hold back tears both from the joy of meeting and from the fact that we would have to part again. During all these 4 years while I was imprisoned, every day I dreamed of returning to my family to my beloved wife and daughter, and this gave me strength.
Despite the pressure, provocations, restriction of visits with my family and deprivation in prison, I am not ashamed of myself. During this difficult time I realized and reevaluated a lot in my life. And I left the colony with my head held high.
I was released in March 2024. Finally, we were together again as a family! But the joy of returning to a peaceful life did not last long, because I was put on the preventive register.
One night, the police came to our village to catch me violating the regime. They shone flashlights through the windows, woke up all the neighbors with their blinkers, frightened my wife and daughter. Over time, their night visits became regular, as did the usual checks. I realized that sooner or later they would collect enough violations to send me back to the colony. We lived in constant fear and it became simply unbearable.
Thanks to the BYSOL evacuation, our family is safe outside the country. We plan to start our life anew in Spain: to put our daughter in school, to legalize in the country and to open our own business in the beauty sector. On the eve of our evacuation from Belarus, my wife and I received training in this field and we want to turn it into our earnings. It is important for us to learn the language in order to adapt and socialize in the country and to be competitive on the labor market.
But at the moment we need to cover the most basic needs. In the first few months we will have a lot of expenses to settle in a new country. We are afraid to make plans and even more so to dream, because we do not know what we will live on tomorrow.
That is why we appeal to you for support with great hope! We need help for the first time, and then we would very much like to help others and thank you not only in word, but also in deed for all the kindness and care we have felt from Belarusians all these years.
How much is needed?
€4500
€2800 — rent for 4 months
€1000 — used bicycles or electric scooters for transportation around the city
€700 — purchase of formulas and tools to start working in the beauty sector