In June 2021, I was sentenced to one year in prison in a high-profile “roundel case.” But my activist activity, and with it the persecution by Lukashenko's regime, began in 2014, when I, as a 20-year-old student, decided to participate in the elections to local councils of deputies. At that time, the police started visiting me at home and the authorities started to take an interest in me.
On the eve of the parliamentary elections in 2019, I was asked to help a man in Brest rent an apartment, and then it turned out that he was going to cross the border illegally. I was convicted in a fabricated case for “organizing illegal migration by a group of persons”. That's why I didn't catch the presidential election campaign in 2020, the elections and mass protests — at that time I was serving my sentence in Mahiliou colony No. 15. The atmosphere there was tense. We were told directly that “if anything happens,” we will be shot.
I was released at the end of August 2020. On September 13, I took part in a protest action in Brest, when the locals were doing round dances. I protested because I also disagreed with the announced election results. It was my civic duty and I was just expressing my opinion. I was anticipating a miracle at the time, but it never happened …
As a result, I was sentenced to one year of imprisonment, which I served in Ivatsevichy colony No. 5. Comparing my imprisonment with the year before in Mahiliou colony, I felt prejudiced as a political prisoner.
I lived in Belarus for a year and five months, but I was still unable to fully recover after my release and find a job. After my release I was terribly paranoid. For the first six months I walked down the street thinking that I was being followed. Five times a week a district police officer came to see me, and I was constantly summoned to “preventive talks” at the police department.
I stayed in Belarus until the last, because I love my Motherland, and there was a hope that it would end. But when at the end of August I received a summons to appear as a witness in an unknown case, I decided to leave. After all, this is how many people are detained — you testify as a witness right away, and then fall asleep in the pre-trial detention center.
Now I am forced to stay in one of the neighboring countries and I don't know how long it will last. I have to start a new life in a new country.
I will be grateful to each and everyone for help!
How much is needed?
€2100
- Apartment and utilities for 2 months + deposit — €1200
- Household items — €150
- Bedding — €100
- Warm clothes — €200
- Food for 2 months — €450