Heroes of Belarusian protest about new life in Ukraine | Belarus: a view from Europe – special project DW | Dw
Inna Zaitseva from Minsk became famous for the fact that she went to protest marches in Belarus in a white-red-white wedding dress. Today she lives in a village near Kiev and believes that the time for a “beautiful” protest, with flowers and posters, is over.
Police captain Yegor Yemelyanov in August 2020 refused to participate in the dispersal of protesters and was one of the first to resign from the police. After a month in an isolation ward on Akrestsin Street and a search in the framework of a criminal case, he also moved to Ukraine.
Bchw dress is a flag that no one can pick up
Inna Zaitseva from Minsk was called in the Belarusian media only “bchb-bride” for the fact that she went to protest actions in a white-red-white (white-chyrvona-belam, bchb) wedding dress. “I had an old wedding dress and my husband spray-painted a red stripe on it.
“Bchb-bride” Inna Zaitseva was forced to leave for Ukraine
Inna became one of the symbols of the Belarusian protest, which, of course, did not like the police. “Every photo of mine in the press is a protocol for picketing. Due to the fact that she has two minor children, they were given fines, and not administrative arrest.
In December 2020, not long before the arrest of Inna’s husband, the police warned her that there was a whole meeting at the ROVD devoted to their family, which “needs to be reassured.” The men sent them directly from the ROVD to Akrestsin Street (Center). Ed.). Inna was released, she and her children left for Kiev, and her husband arrived after the administrative arrest.
“My life stopped when I left home.”
For the Belarusian actions in Ukraine, the bchb-bride also wore her famous dress, the last time in May 2021. “We have held the action” Flower time is over “.
Recently, she and her husband bought a rural house 70 kilometers from Kiev and are now engaged in its arrangement. Inna’s husband works remotely, she herself continues to behave with the secrets of carpentry, the children go to the local garden and school. Nevertheless, she is experiencing a forced move and the inability to return to Belarus.
“I cannot enthusiastically tell you what a wonderful new life I have, because my life stopped exactly at that point, on December 17, when I left home. left, as if we were also in prison with political prisoners, ”says the heroine of the Belarusian protest.
They were stripped of their rank and sent to Akrestsin Street
“After the events of August 9 and 10, I realized that I could no longer serve. This is a real war against unarmed people, “- said a former employee of the Novopolotsk security department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, police captain Yegor Yemnov DW in August 2020. He became one of the first police officers who did not want to participate in the crackdown on protests and quit their jobs. On the day of his dismissal, Yemelyanov was detained, he spent two days in the Center for Isolation of Offenses in Novopolotsk.
Yegor Yemelyanov was one of the first police officers who refused to disperse the protesters
“One of the points of the ideology that exists in the police is to convince the employee that no one needs him, that he has failed in civilian life. The family,” says Yegor.
In May 2021, Captain Yemelyanov and more than 80 officers who supported the protests were stripped of their ranks by Lukashenka’s decree. Yegor Yemelyanov gave an interview to the Belsat TV channel, the next day after the broadcast, the man was detained at his workplace. “I wrote that I molested citizens in the store, used obscene language, and also disobeyed the lawful demands of the police officers. They drew up two protocols, for each – 15 days of administrative arrest,” Yegor recalls.
He spent the first 20 days at Akrestsin Street in a punishment cell, after the cell the former policeman also had “special conditions”. “There was a man with me who had spent 23 years in prison, but he spoke, he had never seen this before: there was no water, they slept on the concrete floor, they didn’t even give a spoon to eat,” says Yegor. After 30 days of arrest, another protocol was drawn up against Yemelyanov – for disobeying police officers during the release of 10 days, but after three days he was released without explanation.
I crossed the border illegally and asked for asylum
Two months later, on August 26, they came to Yemelyanov with an ordinary one, already under a criminal article on willful neglect of official duties, which allegedly caused damage to the state. After this “visit” the former policeman decided to leave Belarus.
“The family came to Ukraine legally, I just crossed the border through the woods,” says Yegor. “On September 15, I took the documents to the migration service to obtain refugee status, but the next day they still came to us from the SBU – a special operation was taking place on the territory of Ukraine at that time.” Migrant “.
In Kiev, the Yemelyanov family rents a house together with other Belarusians. Both Yegor and his wife work, the eldest son goes to an online school, and the youngest daughter, according to the source, does not need to go to kindergarten – there are many of her peers in the “Belarusian house”.
When asked by DW why the security forces in most cases did not support the protests in Belarus, Yegor Emelyanov says: “There may be many reasons, but in my opinion, there is one thing in common: they have gone too far, they cannot get back, they can only hope that the existing system will last their entire life. “
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