"You're on pins and needles every day"
–– Being a relative of a political prisoner in Lukashenka's Belarus means being an open target for the authorities, – says the mother of former political prisoner Olga Klaskovskaya Liudmila, who was forced to flee the country due to persecution and now lives with her daughter in Switzerland. – The servants of the regime treat us as "members of the family of the enemies of the nation." Everything is the same as in Stalin's times: the same persecution, the same repressions. It's scary.
On January 23, 2024, Liudmila Klaskovskaya was detained by the KGB – on that day, a mass roundup of relatives of political prisoners took place throughout Belarus. Security forces searched the apartments of the parents of former and current political prisoners, and they themselves were taken to the KGB for interrogation. Relatives were accused of receiving financial aid from solidarity funds. It is alleged that relatives of political prisoners received food packages from the Euroopt store by e-delivery, and this, according to the authorities, is financial support "from extremist organizations."
According to various estimates, at least 200 people were detained during the security forces' raid. Some of them have already been sentenced in criminal cases to imprisonment, some of them received fines, administrative arrests and are still under the status of suspects.
–– That day there was a call on the mobile phone from an unknown number. The interlocutor introduced himself as a police officer, said he needed to meet with me to clarify the place of my permanent residence. They agreed that I would come to the nearest metro station.
I didn't even have time to get there, when two tall men approached me and started poking me in the face with service ID.
One of them was from the police, the other from the KGB.
They told me to get into the car, they took away my phone, and the policeman immediately began to attack me: "Who paid you for e-delivery? Think!"
I was taken to the KGB, where they informed me that I was a suspect in the case of "financial assistance from extremists." The police officer sloppily threw the prosecutor's order on the table: it said that I should be detained, interrogated, and the apartment should be searched, says the mother of the former political prisoner.
After a long interrogation, the pensioner was released on a non-disclosure bond and told to wait for a court summons.
The story did not end there. A day later, Liudmila Klaskovskaya was again summoned to the KGB in the Minsk region.
–– They called and told I need to come; they say they need to clarify a few details. The KGB officer asked a lot of questions about my daughter, was indignant that our correspondence with Olga in the telegram was deleted. He threatened to put me in detention center for fifteen days.
At the end of the conversation, the KGB officer said: "And you are not as simple as you want to show. Do you think we don't know you changed your phone?" I answered him that there is nothing eternal in this life and that both teeth and telephones have the property of breaking, says Liudmila.
The mother of the former political prisoner says that after the January events, she realized that the authorities would not leave her alone, the woman changed her SIM card and was constantly hiding at different addresses:
–– They were looking for me, the police came to my acquaintances. It was not life, but real hell. At my age, going through all this…was not easy.
The raid that took place this January is the last straw. And in general, the persecution by the authorities began much earlier: when the daughter was arrested. I was constantly being pulled, searched, taken to interrogation.
After her release, Olga left Belarus and continues her journalistic and social-political activities in exile, this annoys the authorities, especially since she writes and speaks under her own name. The security forces vented their anger at me: they literally did not leave me alone for a moment. They kept coming, interrogating, threatening, telling me to persuade my daughter to return to Belarus.
Because of this, my health was greatly undermined, besides, I understood that if I were to be imprisoned, at my age and with my illnesses, I simply might not get out of prison. It was very difficult to leave Belarus, but I probably could not have made another decision.
It is scary and painful to think that you can be arrested for nothing at any moment, that you are forced out of the country, that Belarus has essentially turned into North Korea, that so many people remain behind bars... But we must not lose hope, once it is must end. Thank you all very much for your solidarity.
"It's like the whole local police department visited my house"
–– At seven o'clock in the morning on January 23, there was a knock at the door. I open it – and the KGB and the police are at the door. They began to conduct a search, – the mother of former political prisoner Ilya Mironov Valentina tells. –– After that, they took me away and interrogated me for the whole day. The security forces said that I was a witness in a criminal case against the Dissidentby organization.
As I understood later, they had been collecting information on me for a very long time, they even had a complete schedule of my pension card. They were interrogated in great detail about each transaction: who sent me money, to whom I sent it, why I did it, why exactly I sent money to these people. I was also charged for allegedly subscribing to an "extremist channel".
After some time, a female employee entered the office and said: "Show me your bag and take off your earrings." I understand that I am being taken to the detention center. I don't know why, but then they changed their minds. I was released.
On February 2, 2024, Ms. Valentina was scheduled for trial on the same administrative case.
–– But on January 29, I suddenly got a call from the Investigative Committee, they told me to come. I'm sitting in the building, waiting, I don't even know why I was called. One of the employees says: "The lawyer will come now, we are waiting." Here it became clear to me that the case is not clean, since a lawyer was even called.
I was a witness on January 23, but now I was informed that I am a suspect in the same case. I refused to testify. The female investigator said that I am forbidden to leave the country, I signed the relevant paper. I was released again, thank God.
I was in prostration for a couple of days, I didn't know what to do, what to prepare for. Confused. Friends persuaded me to leave, they say the authorities will not leave me alone, there is no need to take risks, we will take you out of the country.
Valentina Mironova escaped from Belarus to Lithuania and now lives there with her son Ilya.
–– Before that, I was also very often summoned to the Investigative Committee –– they asked questions about my son, and they were also interested in my political views. I have always said what I think about the government, and about the war in Ukraine, and about state propagandists.
The police did not come out of the house at all: I have the impression that the entire local police department has already visited my house.
Now I am safe, but my heart is still not in the right place: I feel sorry for everyone who is suffering in Belarus. It is painful that nothing is changing in the Motherland, and on the contrary, everything is only getting worse. At the same time, I am glad that Belarusians are so sincerely supporting each other, I am very grateful to everyone for their solidarity and support. I believe that there will be a holiday on our street as well, Valentina Mironova sums up.
"I told them I would never testify against my son"
–– On January 23, at half past seven in the morning, the doorbell rang. We are already used to the fact that the police come to us, they are always interested in our son, even though he left Belarus a long time ago, says the mother of former political prisoner Anatoly Khinevich Oksana. –– We open the door, still sleepy, and a whole crowd of KGB rush into the apartment, began a search. Asked: " Did you receive food deliveries from IneedHelpBy?" I say to them: "Yes, but what is the problem?"I had two mobile phones at that time, both were lying on the table, so I managed to cover one with a napkin. Thank God it didn't call during the search. If the KGB had reached him, they probably wouldn't have let me go. They took all other equipment: my tablet, phones and my husband's computers.
They took me to the KGB Office in Borisov and began questioning me. They were interested not so much in me, but in my thinking. I told them: "My son is a political prisoner. Do you want me to say something against my son? This will never happen. There is no need to frighten me and induce me to make any confessions. I believe that he did everything right, and that I also do everything right."
I was asked questions about the fact that I made money transfers and sent parcels to repressed Belarusians. Of course, they asked a lot about e-delivery and many other things.
I said: "You did not study history well. Otherwise you would know very well how it was in the thirties: the system got rid of its servants in the first place."
KGB officers were very offended were very offended by my words and did not speak to me for half an hour. After that, they went out into the corridor, consulted and, returning, said that we were going to the Investigative Committee.
There Oksana Khinevich was questioned in detail about the IneedHelpBy initiative.
–– I tell them: "Well, people want to help me, they are private individuals, why can't they pay for the food baskets?" But the investigators focused on the following: why, they say, these people are helping your son?
Late in the evening, the mother of the political prisoner was informed that the criminal case against her was reclassified into an administrative one. The woman was taken to the police station and put in the cold cell.
In the morning, with her hands tied behind her back, she was taken to the court, where Oksana was sentenced to a fine of 400 Belarusian rubles. The officers did not come up with anything better than to accuse the woman of allegedly resisting the KGB representatives.
Shortly after the dramatic January events, Oksana Khinevich left Belarus. Now she live in Lithuania together with her son.
–– I still haven't lost faith in good and its victory over evil, –– says the interlocutor. –– Many thanks to everyone who was there and who continues to help repressed Belarusians.
Continue
