Four times closed for a day: Belarusians – about repeated arrests | Belarus: a view from Europe – special project DW | DW
How does it feel to be in a cell where you spent the worst five days of your life a year ago? Or to serve three months of arrest and again get “for a day” for talking in a video chat? Belarusians who have gone through several arrests told their stories to DW.
On Akrestsin Street – preventively
For the first time, a resident of Minsk, Yulia Golievskaya, was detained in the evening of August 9, 2020 at the precinct where she was an independent observer. The girl spent five days at Akrestsin Street (in Akrestsin Lane in Minsk there is a Center for Isolation of Offenses and a Temporary Detention Center – Ed…) – in an overcrowded cell with stale air, without food, water, medicine and hygiene products. After that, Yulia was detained twice more at the marches, on August 5, 2021, on the eve of the anniversary of the elections in Belarus – preventively, like many others who were previously involved in the protests.
Julia Golievskaya
At 7 in the morning they called the intercom, I did not open it, at 9 I left the apartment, they (security officials – Ed…) all this time were waiting for me. I asked if they would send me to Akrestsin Street, if I needed to collect any things, the policeman said that they would just take me to the ROVD for a conversation. A couple of hours later, he brought me a protocol stating that he allegedly swore, tried to leave the room, and behaved defiantly. Of course, none of this happened. I was sentenced to 15 days of administrative arrest, in the evening I was already at Akrestsin Street, “Yulia recalls.
“Each is a difficult experience, the first and last detentions were the most difficult,” she says.
SIZO on Akrestsin Street gains notoriety since August 2020
Yulia Golievskaya spent 10 days at Akrestsin Street, then she was transferred to a pre-trial detention center in the city of Baranovichi. There, according to her, the conditions were even worse: “At least the floor was wooden in Akrestsin Street, it could be on it, in Baranovichi the floor is concrete, iron beds, it was very cold. It was nothing at all.” During the “day” Julia again contracted the coronavirus. Now the girl has temporarily left Belarus.
Arrest for video chat
Former political prisoner Andrei Sysun was also detained for the first time on August 9, 2020. At about 6 pm he and a friend were walking not far from the stele “Minsk – Hero City”, there were already many security officials. After meeting with them, Andrei ended up in intensive care. He had a head injury, rib fractures, bruises. When the guy was transferred to a regular ward, he decided to leave the hospital – he feared further detention.
Andrey Sysun
“I have never been interested in politics, but when you just walk, and they beat you, take your phone, your passport, it’s not normal. Ed…), make commercial inscriptions on the walls. Someone saw from the balcony what I was writing, a couple of days later I was summoned to the ROVD, “says Andrei. According to him, the investigators could decide for a long time whether to consider his actions under an administrative or criminal article. Damage to property.
On December 29, Andrei Sysun was sentenced to three months in prison. In the pre-trial detention center in the city of Baranovichi, where he was serving his sentence, the young man was registered as “prone to extremist and destructive actions.” Andrei was released in April 2021. But at the end of July he was detained again – during a video chat he said “Long live Belarus” and raised his hand, one of the participants in the conversation did not like it. A few days later, GUBOPiK came for Andrey.
“I was at my neighbor’s house, from the balcony I saw two SUVs and a minibus entering the courtyard, then a man in a mask and a bulletproof vest ran up to the balcony, asked my last name, I called someone else’s, but he probably recognized me. Cut his hand and his neighbor , – says Andrey. – When I went to the site, they were standing there with weapons and shields.
The beatings, according to Andrei, continued after the search in the minibus, including with the use of an electric shock. The guy was sentenced to 10 days of administrative arrest for “disseminating Nazi symbols.” In the cell, he recalls, there was neither bed linen nor a mattress, the parcels were not given to him, as the guards explained, “political” in a special position. Andrei was released on August 8 and immediately left Belarus.
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