Three months ago, when my mom was walking through the city, she was stopped by a patrol and demanded to show her phone. Mom tried to argue and said that the phone was her personal thing, but it was all in vain. According to the new “law” it is possible to check a cell phone on the street, so mom had to comply and handed over the phone. It had subscriptions, social networks and mailings — the whole set of materials to get criminal charges.
Mom was taken away “until the circumstances are clarified.” It was cold in the cell, and to keep warm she was doing squats and push-ups. The guards did not like this, and mom was placed in a punishment cell. There she became ill: she had chills and a cough. When my mom asked for medicine, they told her that “it was not allowed” and added: “sit down, golden nation, think”.
At the same time, our house was being searched. I remember that before I could open the door, uniformed men burst into the apartment and turned it upside down. They left a lot of dirt and an unpleasant sticky feeling of complete hopelessness in my soul.
Then there was a trial. Mom was brought to it in handcuffs, as if she were a vicious terrorist. But the judge did not proceed with the criminal case and limited herself to a fine of 800 rubles.
We thought that would be the end of it. However, a day later my mom was summoned to the KGB for questioning. The person who held a “conversation” with my mom did not introduce himself and immediately began to intimidate her. He showed a printout of all the likes and comments that she had left in 2020, showed photos from peaceful actions that mom had attended. And he constantly threatened: he said that my mom would be fired from her job, that I would be expelled from the university, that we would be put in jail.
And after the interrogation — a new search. This time they confiscated our computer and my old cell phone. I thought I had cleaned everything on it, but the law enforcers were able to recover some of the information that had once been stored on it: photos and videos from protests, correspondence, confirmation of donations to Ukraine.
We got caught.
I don't know why, but they didn't take us to the pre-trial detention center right away. So we packed some things and left home. We stayed at a friend's house. We wrote to the BYSOL evacuation service, and they made visas for us and helped us leave.
Now we are in Lithuania. We live in the apartment of my acquaintance, whom my mother and I used to see off to the train station and joked that soon everything would be over and we would meet again in Minsk. But it turned out differently.
My mom is confirming her diplomas to get a job as a teacher in a Belarusian gymnasium. And I want to continue my studies at a Lithuanian university. But so far we have nothing, only the simplest part-time jobs — we hired as cleaners in one of the establishments in Vilnius.
We ask you to help us, because we were not prepared for the fact that we had to leave Belarus urgently. Our home and our life remained there. And here we have to start everything over again. And with your support it will be easier for us.
How much is needed?
€4000
€1000 — security deposit, deposit and realtor's fees when looking for a place to live.
€1000 — payment for the first 2-3 months
€500 — documents and consular fees for visas and residence permits.
€500 — clothes for late summer, early fall
€200 — medication, as my mom has blood pressure problems and I have a neurological diagnosis.
€800 — living expenses for the first time