Political analyst Vadzim Mazheyka, tells about his guardianship over the political prisoner Valeryia Kostyugova.
We continue to tell you about the participants of the joint information campaign of our Foundation and the Dissidentby initiative “Untill All are Free”.
"Valeryia Kostyugova is my friend and colleague with whom we closely collaborated on analytical projects such as the “Expert-Analytical Club” and the website of the expert community “Our Opinion”, “Belarusian Yearbook”. I love and respect Valeryia very much as a wonderful person and a bright, profound professional.
It seems somewhat strange to speak of justice in relation to Belarusian political prisoners. All political prisoners are imprisoned unjustly. But in this case, her imprisonment seems particularly unjust to me because, at some point, the arrests of Tatiana Kuzina and Valeryia Kostyugova largely prompted the entire expert community to leave Belarus. Some of our colleagues, like Lebyadok and Parotnikov, were also arrested.
Therefore, I feel that the responsibility lies with our entire expert community. And I personally feel responsible: the imprisonment of Valeryia is a very painful story for me. I know what a refined person Valeryia is, and I understand how difficult it is for her in this unaesthetic and dreary atmosphere behind bars. Valeryia is left without the ability to talk to those she is used to conversing with; without the ability to listen to music on vinyl; the inability to make coffee in the mornings; the inability to have a glass of wine in the evenings.
It is very important to me that Valeryia's legacy does not disappear – what she was involved in, all the analytical projects. As much as possible, I have been investing in continuing Valeryia's work over the years. Previously, she was the editor of the “Belarusian Yearbook”, and I simply wrote texts there. Now I have tried to take up her editorial work (Vadzim Mazheyka currently edits the 'Belarusian Yearbook' – Ed.).
Of course, the “Belarusian Yearbook” has been published in very unfavorable conditions lately, because of the same aforementioned arrests of our analysts, the necessity to work with people who can only write anonymously, and at the same time to select competent authors. It seems to me that everything worked out, and the 'Belarusian Yearbook' continued to live.
I am glad that other colleagues of Valeryia have also actively joined in providing assistance and ensuring that the website 'Our Opinion' lives daily. We have continued the activities of the expert-analytical club that we used to do with Valeryia. Now it is the Belarusian workshop of thought “Our Vision”, where together with visionary experts we think about the future, try to add thoughts about the future to our media field, which is largely focused on the present.
I know that this would be very important for Valeryia, because she is one of those people who can look far ahead, have a strategic global vision, and not just live with everyday problems".
We continue to tell you about the participants of the joint information campaign of our Foundation and the Dissidentby initiative “Untill All are Free”.
"Valeryia Kostyugova is my friend and colleague with whom we closely collaborated on analytical projects such as the “Expert-Analytical Club” and the website of the expert community “Our Opinion”, “Belarusian Yearbook”. I love and respect Valeryia very much as a wonderful person and a bright, profound professional.
It seems somewhat strange to speak of justice in relation to Belarusian political prisoners. All political prisoners are imprisoned unjustly. But in this case, her imprisonment seems particularly unjust to me because, at some point, the arrests of Tatiana Kuzina and Valeryia Kostyugova largely prompted the entire expert community to leave Belarus. Some of our colleagues, like Lebyadok and Parotnikov, were also arrested.
Therefore, I feel that the responsibility lies with our entire expert community. And I personally feel responsible: the imprisonment of Valeryia is a very painful story for me. I know what a refined person Valeryia is, and I understand how difficult it is for her in this unaesthetic and dreary atmosphere behind bars. Valeryia is left without the ability to talk to those she is used to conversing with; without the ability to listen to music on vinyl; the inability to make coffee in the mornings; the inability to have a glass of wine in the evenings.
It is very important to me that Valeryia's legacy does not disappear – what she was involved in, all the analytical projects. As much as possible, I have been investing in continuing Valeryia's work over the years. Previously, she was the editor of the “Belarusian Yearbook”, and I simply wrote texts there. Now I have tried to take up her editorial work (Vadzim Mazheyka currently edits the 'Belarusian Yearbook' – Ed.).
Of course, the “Belarusian Yearbook” has been published in very unfavorable conditions lately, because of the same aforementioned arrests of our analysts, the necessity to work with people who can only write anonymously, and at the same time to select competent authors. It seems to me that everything worked out, and the 'Belarusian Yearbook' continued to live.
I am glad that other colleagues of Valeryia have also actively joined in providing assistance and ensuring that the website 'Our Opinion' lives daily. We have continued the activities of the expert-analytical club that we used to do with Valeryia. Now it is the Belarusian workshop of thought “Our Vision”, where together with visionary experts we think about the future, try to add thoughts about the future to our media field, which is largely focused on the present.
I know that this would be very important for Valeryia, because she is one of those people who can look far ahead, have a strategic global vision, and not just live with everyday problems".
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