Kneeling on the bridge across the Mukhavets river, Timofey heard behind his back: “You bastards should be shot”. The shooting was replaced with beatings after which it was impossible to sit normally for several days. And tortures. If you sat crooked, you chin pressed to your chest, for almost 14 hours, vertigo and nausea would not leave you for a long time. After all the derisions, Timofey got his reward in white-red-white march after leaving the detention center.
Was stopped and force to kneel
— On 10 August, we were working with my father until late. At about 11 PM I went to my friends to Vulka (district of Brest). There were no trolleybuses, so I decided to walk. I met nearly nobody on my way. I saw the OMON folks standing in rows, the trolleybuses lining up near the Youth Creative Center. I recorded a short video that I had to walk because of one dictator. I went to the embankment and phoned my friend: “I’ll be in three minutes”. I hadn’t heard about flash-bang grenades, rubber bullets. I had no Internet, so I called my friends by phone all the time. I knew for sure that people would gather.
In the center of the bridge the OMON folks were standing, the road was blocked with plastic barriers. One jumpy guy ran to me and asked: “Where are you going?” I didn’t like it for sure. Another one came: guys, let’s not go off limits. The first one asked again: “Where are you going?” I was in a good mood and smiled: “To see my friends”. The first guy asked: “Are you nuts? Why are you so happy?” U was shocked. The second guy told: “Okay, guys, cool off. Show us your phone”. – “I won’t, deliberately”. In an instant they twisted my arms behind my back and conveyed me at an angle of 90°. I caught the corner of my eye that about six people were already being knelt there. There are large curbs, and all of them were leaning against them with their heads. I was placed near the other guys. As they conveyed me, they stroke me with their clubs – but it was only the beginning.
“Show your phone” again. As I was kneeling, it seemed no longer essential. He began waving my phone: either password, or the phone would float. I thought there was nothing critical, okay. First of all, he checked the gallery, watched the last video, then the video where I told I voted for Tikhanovskaya and hoped for changes. Then he found a photo in the T-shirt “Country for life”. He calmed down at once and gave my phone back. I thought they would release me. He said, though: “It’s our client!”
I heard behind my back: “You. Bastards. Should be. Shot”. Then the OMON guy began boasting that they were so consolidated and they would win for sure, that we were separated and lose for sure. He was talking such a bullshit. He bragged they were putting their lives at risk while catching criminals.
Most of us kept silence. One guy, though, went hysterical, he was in tears and crying: “Please, please, release me, I didn’t do anything!” I can understand him, but I had had my moments in life and grown really stress-proof. An OMON man ran hand over the ground and then wiped up the mud on his face. “Feeling better now?” Finally he was released, actually. They talked about me that I was too silent and that they had probably caught the right guy. I was just scared. If I told anything they would beat me, so it was no sense in words.
In 15-20 minutes, the prison truck arrived. We were packed there. U saw scared faces of people in shock. The same men as me. There were guys younger than 18 years old, it was terrible to look at them. One guy told he had voted for Lukashenko. Maybe he tried to deceive them to be released.
We could hear the beatings. As they finished, he asked: “Is that all?” I would follow him to the ends of the earth
Then, in the afternoon, as we were allowed to lift our heads, we came to the Security Service department of the Leninsky district. In the prison truck, they warned us that we should run, our heads down, our hands behind our backs. I didn’t see anything from the waist up. Kind of a corridor: the OMON guys stood from the left and from the right, five or six from each side, every meter or two. As you ran they beat you. Very strong kicks. So you had to run faster.
In the foyer, they told us to remove everything from the pockets. I kept silence, naturally. They stood us “like a star” against the door and checked whether we had hid something. New beatings at that moment. One guy kicked my bollocks - painfully, but not with all might.
They began making lists and asked for my last name once again. Some boss in the military commissariat is named Kasianiuk. I have no acquaintances in the military commissariat, but my father used to be a policeman. “You bloody bastard!” You father is a cop, and you are here! Instantly, I recollected everything my dad had told me about the OMON. By the way, he is also not happy and understands that the situation is awful. But he doesn’t believe we can change anything.
From the foyer, we were pushed to the sports hall. New corridor there, and they were hitting really hard. First corridor was about 70 % of might, and now 100 % here. They beat us with legs, with hands, with clubs. At the end of the corridor, somebody caught me by the hand and tossed onto the floor – I fell facedown. The real brutality began at that moment. One kick in the thigh, the next, in less than a second, from the other side - in the liver, in kidneys. I felt for sure they beat me with their legs for a minute, not more. They tried not to beat in the head, I didn’t get kicks in the head. But my thighs were totally blue for a long time.
We began waiting. We stood kneeling, hands behind heads. For two hours approximately. Then they allowed to sit normally, legs pulling up, but chest pressed to the chin and hands behind head. If only somebody lifted his head, we could hear cracks, kicks, moaning. “Give some water” – one-two-three – kicks and beatings, and then the horrible answer: “Not thirsty now?” Any word, any movement – and you are just a red spot, a red flag for them. I tucked my chin and tried to evade beatings. In the sports hall, I felt they would really shot us, it was not a joke, but I had my hopes and didn’t want to become disabled. The only thing that reassured me was that they had asked for my name, not put me to a mass grave. The ambulance removed several men on stretchers. Some men lost consciousness and were dragged. About five men, I think.
When we began lifting our heads, they still warned us, but I saw a guy next to me. He was young and shaggy, blue from beatings. Abrasions on the face, swollen nose, no T-shirt – it had probably been torn. He kept his head up. They came to him and kicked with a club – not very hard, but he had been already beaten black-and-blue. He didn’t lower his head. They took him out, and we could hear the beatings. Mighty cracks, six or seven. As they finished, he asked: “Is that all?” I saw after that him still keeping his head high. I would follow him to the ends of the earth.
I remember his words verbatim: “Remember my face. If someone would threaten me or my family, everything that has happened here to you would be just a taste of what’s to come”
Persistent cracks continued till the morning – they beat people. They allowed us to lift our heads only after dinner. I’m sure they were not the same that those which were at night. I think they noticed that people were just swinging. I felt nausea because of such a position, though I’m as strong as a horse. My neck ached for a long time. At about 3 PM we started looking around. I had not supposed there were 249 more men next to me as the silence had been stony.
I began thinking about escape, but this was impossible. First, I thought that if I would attack someone we could escape, there were 250 men, but then I decided they would just shoot us. And I didn’t do anything to try to escape with such a risk.
The majority was 25 years old or younger. Some guys were 14 or 15 – and even they were beaten, There were three girls, though they didn’t arrest girls as a rule. They stayed with their boyfriends and were also beaten. Two old men – nearly 70, I think. At dinner, the guards brought water and gave it to them first, I didn’t drink – 30 persons from one bottle.
Ten people came to the toilet and returned safely, so I also asked for it. In the corridor, they allowed me to stretch my back. I stood my forehead to the wall, but they let me loose. The guy told me they would not murder us and everything would be calm. In the toilet, there were not bloody plashes, but someone had clearly peed with blood.
A boss with stately pace in summer boots observed our arms – he was probably looking for narcos. Several prim guys in glamour shirts came – I suppose they were from KGB. I think they were looking for those who tossed stones. They brought the telephones with Pogonia looking for their owners. There were about 10 of these, totally broken. Nobody avouched – we were afraid they would kill us.”
A man in a crimson beret came to the hall. He didn’t wear a mask, he was not hiding. He told: “Lift your eyes, look at me”. I remember his words verbatim: “Remember my face. If someone would threaten me or my family, everything that has happened here to you would be just a taste of what’s to come”. Then he explained why we got here: “Splinters will fly when the axe you ply”. I was shocked. A man, about 40 y/o, asked: “Do we have martial law or something?” He answered that they act as if the martial law was declared. But the man wasn’t beaten.
— The prison truck to the detention center is a story in its own. We were packed very tight, in uncomfortable positions. It was very hot, real hell. Everyone was pouring with sweat – I thought I would die, and I was there just for 20 minutes! An OMON man in full equipment was heating up with us. The guys from my cell in the detention center told me they had been kept there for two hours. They were standing and changing: only one person at a time could come down to breathe.
The people in the detention center were military. As we ran from the prison truck, they shouted: “Lower your heads!” There was a corridor again, but they didn’t beat us with pleasure, like those in the department, just forwarded us with clubs. It was painful, though, as we had been beaten black-and-blue. “On your knees! To the wall!” There were very small pebbles, really sharp. As you knelt in this pebbles, you started bleeding.
Some young guy asked if he could sit on hunkers. He was allowed. Then the second one, the third… “Yes, you can sit on hunkers if you want”. Then someone ventured too far – and asked for water! They brought us water. Then they allowed us to stay, to stretch legs. They pushed us to the detention center. There, they didn’t make us bend down, just demanded to look to the floor. I understood that the guards in the detention center were shocked, too. Some of them told it was really brutal and they wanted to dismiss. We realized that we were quite safe there.
They pushed 24 men in a cell for 8 persons. We could speak there freely, without clubs. Many of us relaxed. I sat and thought: why? I even hadn’t gone over the speed limit, hadn’t touched anyone, and now I was totally tinkered, never had I been beaten so hard.
There was cold water in a tap, I could drink for the first time. I slept well that night. We tried to lie on the bed – two, three men on one. It was really hot, not a breath of air. I took a blanket, very thin one, spread on the concrete floor and lay – it was perfect! In the morning, there was no examination – they had other problems. They brought us food in time, though. Like in a hospital: no salt, no sugar, but plenty.
I couldn’t sit normally for the first two days. I had to lean upon a leg and settle down really slowly. My right side, from knee to back, was total blue. The back was also beaten. Very few people were not beaten: a guy from Ukraine and one more lad. Others were blue, too.
The back suffered only when they missed the spot, as far as I understood. The heads were okay. Only one guy has abrasion on the face and a stripe form a club on his neck. Another guy in our cell had severe disjunction, his leg was swollen and three times thicker than another one. On the forensic examination, the guy before me was asked to come in the morning because they were going to spend half a day on him. He wore flip-flops and shorts, his toes were blue – still blue! The legs were half blue too. He was squeezed dry. He explained he was a bit drunk, they annoyed him and he told them: “Beat, you pieces of shit”. There was an ex thief with us, he had spent 20 years in prison in total. He told that they don’t treat criminals like us. He told that all the procedures were violated. There were a lot of smokers, but one guy and me began doing press-ups, some kind of workout.
We heard cars signaling, though we were in the basement. The guard told us about girls on white dresses with flowers. At some moment, somebody shouted: “Silence!” Very quiet sound, but we heard people shouting. We understood there is a crowd near the detention center. They were for us. It reassured us. It was the third day. My sister is really hotshot: “We know he is here. Bring him a parcel at very least”. I was one of the first who got parcels. I felt uncomfortable because I knew that my girlfriend, my sister, my mother felt worse than me because they just did not know how I was.
As we drove, a crowd of people was marching with white-red-white flags. I thought: it had sense, anyway
At the end of the third day, the judges came. We were sent to the second floor, to the detention center officials and a couple of bosses. They didn’t wear masks – thought they were immortal. I knew one of them. Everyone had to turn face to the wall, but I heard lawyers walking, judges nearby – and decided to look around. This boss came: “Face to the wall!” I looked at him: “I remember you”. He was on the bridge when I was detained. He did not touched me, just sat on the other side and did nothing when they beat me. He came closer, took me by the head, pressed to the wall and told: “I had said, face to the wall! You will get 15 days, I will trace you and put to the seclusion room”. He started putting his finger to me. It was clear he had his pleasure. I was a bit scared because of his promise, but I got 10 days only.
They took me to the investigator. I told one thing, she gave me my story to read, and I saw that they wrote in the protocol that I was in a crowd… Bullshit. Before the trial, a police officer came with come papers and told me to sign them. I was scared enough to sign the first two of them, but then I looked at the protocol: “But where is a copy?” You should not sign anything.
The trial started from the question: “How are you feeling?” I told I felt bad as I was swinging, but I still could continue. The next question: “Do you trust the judge?” This one or another – what’s the difference? I saw he was adequate and told that I could prove all my words and I needed only the call detail record from the mobile operator… Ten days. It doesn’t matter whether you are right or wrong. In the court, you are wrong anyway. I got my protocol finally, the police officer came and got the copy of the protocol without my signature.
I came to terms with 10 days in the cell. But they set me free earlier because of high profile. Everyone was released in 6 days, and I got liberty in 5 days. I was really happy. One of my cellmates who had been released earlier met me and offered to give me a lift. As we drove, a crowd of people was marching with white-red-white flags. The road from the center was blocked. I went out of the car and walked with them. I thought: it had sense, anyway. I was not beaten for nothing, so nobody would remember what did happen there. I was marching for three bus stops. I saw a girl in a white dress with a flower. I told them: “Thank you for your support. I came out of jail because of you”. And began crying. She came and hugged me. Though I was stinking after the detention center.
On the next day, I was in shock. I felt depressed for two days. I was afraid to get outside. I had never locked the second lock on my door, but now I did it. In two days, I wished I had a machine gun to kill somebody. I needed vengeance. I felt malicious for a long time. I tried not to walk by foot nowhere. I understood that I would become disabled from the second time. It’s better to breathe normally than to save money.
I still don’t want to emigrate, but the government thinks this is acceptable, and I understand that we would have North Korea here in a short time. I hope I have children, I want to live normally. I don’t want to be scared, to realize they can kill you any moment, they can rape your children.
P.S. Timofey interposed an appeal against the decision about 10 days – and the decision was cancelled. The protocol said Timofey was detained in 5 km from the place of his real location. This was proven due to the inquiry to the mobile operator. He also entered a plea against the siloviki, but the Investigative committee has already refused to open a criminal case.
*August2020 editorial team thanks The International Committee for the Investigation of Torture in Belarus for help in preparing the material.
Was stopped and force to kneel