On August 9, 2020, I was injured at a rally against election fraud in Baranavichy. When they started throwing smoke and stun grenades into the crowd where I was standing, I instinctively threw them back. Trying to protect myself, I did not even immediately notice that my shin had been shot through with rubber bullets. I managed to throw back grenades five times, but the sixth one exploded in my hands. I was stunned by the explosion, people carried me out and called an ambulance.
After I received first aid (the bullets were removed, my leg, eyebrow, and temple were stitched up), I returned to the rally and shortly after was arrested. All bandaged up, I was beaten with batons in the police wagon and given 5 days of administrative detention.
After the administrative detention, I hid from the law enforcers for 4 years because a criminal case had been opened against me. All this time they were looking for me through my relatives, interrogated my wife and brother, carried out a search at my grandmother’s place, and so on. After failing to find me, in June 2024 they sent a letter to my address stating that the criminal case against me was closed.
I thought this was a victory and that everything was behind us. Sadly, in February 2025 I was detained while taking a driving test. Because of a fabricated subscription to the already banned Telegram channel “Baranovichi online”, I was given 10 days of administrative detention to hold me while reopening the closed criminal case for participating in protests.
Through intimidation and beatings, they tried to force me to identify myself in a protest photo from 2020. They succeeded only after threats to harm my wife and children. I had to sign a confession. Besides that, in court, they presented a video where I was throwing a tear gas grenade back towards the police. As a result, I was sentenced to 2 years of confinement in an open correctional facility (so-called “home confinement”).
My family went through a very hard time while I was in the remand center. Especially my younger son – he is very attached to me. When I was released in the courtroom, my wife and I decided that this was our chance to save ourselves and that we had to leave.
I won’t hide it – it was terrifying to flee to a completely unfamiliar country with two children. Plus, all our savings were spent on renovating our new apartment back then and on lawyers. We had to leave everything behind, both emotionally (relatives, friends, work) and materially (all the children’s toys, clothes, our apartment). We took the bare minimum with us. And under the current regime, there is no way back for us.
Finding safety felt like solving one problem out of a hundred. Now we face so many challenges that it’s overwhelming! Many people will probably understand us – how hard it is to start life from scratch in a foreign country, both morally and financially. My wife and I have always relied on ourselves, we worked and earned everything we had. But now, while looking for housing and work, and while applying for documents to legalize our stay, we are asking for help because we simply have nothing to live on.
From the bottom of our hearts, we thank everyone who can support us!
Fundraising Goal
€3000
€1800 – rent for housing for four people for three months (+utilities)
€500 – essentials, food
€500 – school and kindergarten supplies for the children (school supplies, clothes and shoes, desk, toys)
€200 – translation of documents, transport and communication costs