“Blows were coming from all sides. “What are you doing here? Do you want changes? Sing the anthem! Do you like riot police? Are you a patriot of your country?”
Marked with a red mark hit especially hard
Marked with a red mark hit especially hard
“My fear came to an end back in the prison camp, where I was beaten, mistreated, humiliated, thrown outside wearing underpants only,” Stanislav Tsybinsky told us about how he was tired of having tolerated violence while still in prison facilities where he had spent 15 years. Now violence has splashed out over the prison walls to the city streets, and Stas has met it again.
On the 10th of August he was detained at the peaceful protest and beaten in the prisoner transport. On the 11th of August he was pulled out of the restaurant in the Europe hotel and beaten in a bus. After both incidents he ended up in hospital
Apparently, in order to understand the whole story it is worth going back to a certain moment in the past: to the house where a small child is sitting alone in a baby crib. The child is hungry, soaked and afraid. He is waiting for his mother for a day, two, three… But she won’t come back. Never.
“I was born near Luninets. My father died when I was 11 months old: his heart stopped beating when he was driving a working car. My mother started drinking and she was deprived of parental rights. She went on the booze somewhere and left me alone in the closed house. I was around two years old. I sat there alone for a couple of days, didn’t eat anything and soiled myself. Neighbours called the police, and doctors took me away from there, completely exhausted. I spent a month in hospital and then got to an orphan home. That was the fate I got.
My mother disappeared, and I never saw her again. Up to the present day nobody managed to find her. Most likely she went to Russia. After living in the orphan home I realized that she either died or simply didn’t need me. TV program “Wait for Me” came to our orphan home, and I was offered to participate. However, I was already in the 5th grade and I understood that if they still hadn’t found me, it meant nobody needed me. So I made the decision to go alone on my life’s journey.
Then I met my first love. She was all I had. My girlfriend went out from a shop, and there was a car with her classmates nearby. They offered to give her a ride… and raped her. Later the guy who did that started to blackmail her and ask for money; otherwise, he would tell everyone that she was to blame. Those were still the times when people were worried about their status. I was really hurt by all that. I asked her whether she wanted me to talk to the offender and to punish him so that he would realize himself what pain was and what he had done. We met and had a fight. Then he felt bad at home, it turned out that I had broken his rib and there was a thrombus detachment. They called the ambulance, and later he died in hospital. That way I killed a man when I was 18 years old.
The girl’s mother didn’t want to draw attention to that story, and they didn’t file the report to court for rape and beating. I ended up in prison and went through a hard school of life.”
“Initially I served my sentence in the prison colony №5 in Ivatsevichi in very severe conditions. I even had to do this twice (he is showing the scars on the veins – August2020), it is called “to slit wrists”: not in order to commit suicide, but in order to survive. This happens when you get tired of being beaten, mistreated and humiliated. They leave you in peace only when you have “slit your wrists”. I did that in order to stop violence on the part of the administration. This system breaks you, not rehabilitates.
Not once I looked the death in the eye. The worst thing is when a person whom you have lived with for several years is dying right in front of you. I saw many deaths: blood strokes, heart attacks, deaths after beatings. When a person is beaten up so hard that his body goes all limp and he can raise neither arm nor leg – he is simply brought to a cell and thrown as a mop.
And a person dies; we tried to bring him to life, although we didn’t quite know how to do that. We called for a doctor. It takes time for a guard to come, to call higher ups, it takes time for a head guard to come and to look whether things are really bad, then it takes time to call the ambulance and wait until it comes. It can take several hours, and a person is already in convulsions, he gets red in the face, with foam coming from his mouth, and you can’t do anything to help.
You have to be very strong in order not to go mad. It’s hard to remain human in such conditions. Reading and self-isolation saved me. I read and realized that it was my world and that I lived in it. I was building a new future world for me. I was thinking about what was awaiting me on the outside, what problems would arise and how I would solve them.”
The worst thing is when a person whom you have lived with for several years is dying right in front of you
While I was serving the sentence, my grandmother died. She was the only person who helped and supported me. Her house was government-owned; they took it away and cancelled my registration. As an orphan, I was due to getting an apartment. Under law you have to submit an application before the age of 32, but as the lawyer explained to me, you can’t do it remotely. I tried to do all I could, but I was told that I shouldn’t have gone to jail and that I was not supposed to get a flat. From prison I wrote everywhere: to the city government, to the district executive committee, to religious organizations and asked them to help me with job placement and accommodation. All of them refused, and in 2017 after having served the sentence of 15 years (one year was reduced due to amnesty) I went out to nowhere.”
“I had a friend in Grodno, so I went to him. After 5 days his mother said that a stranger is an extra mouth to feed. I packed my belongings and left. I lived 4 months at the railway station; at first they tried to kick me out, but later they got used to me. All that time I was looking for a job. I have 6 professions: a universal tractor driver, a woodworking machine operator, an electrician, a tailor, a waiter/bartender/administrator, a boiler house operator/machine worker. I applied for all job vacancies and received 158 rejections. Nobody looked at my certificates. As soon as I came, they said, “You have a criminal record, so you don’t fit our company.”
It was difficult to find even a temporary job. I was very hungry. I even thought about breaking a shop window, taking out sausage and bread and eating as much as I could. Still, I kept back because I wanted to break that vicious circle which only few former prisoners managed to escape from. It was humiliating, but I came up to people and said, “I have recently been released from prison and I don’t want to steal anything. If you have an opportunity, buy me some bread and two sausages, please.” Many kicked me off; the society was not ready to accept such people as me. The government doesn’t support either.”
Nobody looked at my certificates. As soon as I came, they said, “You have a criminal record, so you don’t fit our company”
“Once I didn’t eat for 3-4 days. An elderly woman came up to me, called me “grandson” and took out bread, cheese, milk and sausages from a bag. I started to cry because somebody treated me with kindness. It turned out that her grandson had served the sentence.
Later I helped one man to unload furniture in the street, and that way I started to work as a loader. During two weeks I earned more than 200 rubles and I could rent a room. I filled a bath with water and lay there for 3 hours. Warm water was such a pleasure! That was the first bath in 16 years. I went out and there were clean bed sheets in front of me which smelled so nice. There was also a TV. I was channel surfing and I didn’t know what to watch. For the first time I didn’t have to run somewhere, to hide and to sleep on a bench in an embryo position. And nobody kicked me out.”
“Later I managed to find a job as a waiter and worked a lot, in several places. I got a room in a boarding house. One day a cellmate wrote to me, “An orphan will be released soon, he has nowhere to live. Could you send some warm clothes or shoes?” I bought all that was necessary. The rumour that there was a person who helped former prisoners spread throughout all prison colonies. I started to receive letters, and I bought food and clothes at my own expense, mostly in second hand shops.
Around 60-70% of former prisoners return to detention facilities. Why do they commit new crimes? Often a person is released to nowhere: he has no money, no job and no accommodation. He steals something or robs a passer-by due to despair. This is a never-ending circle. I want to the society to know the truth and to see the big problem which exists but neither common people nor the government pay attention to it. So I came up with an idea of creating a public information platform “Belarusian Centre of Support”, and there is also a group in Vkontakte called “Hand of Hope and Support”.
Volunteers have got involved; people have helped with clothes, shoes, food, and hygiene products. I kept all this in my room in the boarding house and answered to all the messages and requests without stop. Probably, I would never have engaged in such things if I have not gone through all that myself. In August, 2020, I opened a tailor shop “Mriya” in order to offer employment to former prisoners. 9 people work there now.”
Stas was in several prison colonies: at first he was serving the sentence in the prison colony with a strict regime №5 in Ivatsevichi, then in the prison colonies №8 and №19 in Orsha and in the prison colony №15 in Mogilev. He knows firsthand what violence is, and now violence has splashed out over the prison walls. Stas tells us that one year before his release he realized that he was tired of tolerating violence and he handed over the article about how prisoners were treated to one of the newspapers. He started having problems after that: “The administration demanded that I must write the refutation. I didn’t do that, so they brought pressure upon me.”
“You write about violations, and they start to put pressure on you and to torture you (in some cases people were raped). For example, if you don’t sign the paper that you are guilty in violation prison rules (you didn’t fasten a button the proper way), they kick you out to the area surrounded by a fence. You are wearing underpants only, and it is winter outside. You may spend several hours there. Then they bring you the paper, “Do you want warmth? Then sign!” There were some decent and fair heads of the colonies, but usually such people don’t stay there for a long time. Even when young and still humane specialists come, the system changes them. Nobody acts by the book.
As a slave you must shut your mouth and you must not stick your neck out. My fear for life came to an end after I was beaten, mistreated, humiliated, thrown outside wearing only underpants. I don’t need to worry that if something happens to me, nobody will feed my child or my mother will be worried – I don’t have anybody.”
I don’t need to worry that something happens to me – I don’t have anybody
“I was released and I started to receive letters (kites) in which prisoners told about beatings, humiliation, deaths and violations in prison. I went through that myself, and people still suffer from all those things. I wanted not only to draw attention, but to scream about it so that they will do something and put things in order. So I started to file applications about violations of human rights in prison to the public prosecution office and to the Investigating Committee. I became a member of the human rights group “Timeact” which deals with the defense of rights of prisoners and employees of the penal system. We arranged conferences and invited employees of the Department for the Execution of Sentences of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and of the public prosecution office in order to solve problems together, but nobody ever came.
Due to my public activity I was attacked twice even before the elections. People in civvies kicked me in the back and tried to drag me into a car in order to take me somewhere. They hit me in the stomach. Everything was recorded by a surveillance camera, and there were also witnesses. Police said that “during the inspection it was established that no illegal actions were committed against you” and that a preventive conversation was held with the car owner.”
“In summer 2020 I found a job as an administrator in Minsk. After I found out the results of the elections, I was shocked by cheating and falsifications and I went out to a peaceful demonstration on the 10th of August.
Near Pushkinskaya underground station there was a column of more than 300 people. Around 10 o’clock in the evening I went out with a poster. The inscription on it was neither offensive nor threatening. Completely strange people in black (there were 4 of them), without any identification marks, pulled me out of the crowd, grabbed me by the arms and legs and carried me to the prisoner transport. I asked, “On what grounds are you detaining me? Produce identification!”
They didn’t react to requests. In the prisoner transport they threw me to the floor and put strainers to hands and feet so that I couldn’t move. All at once they started to beat me with batons, without specifying or saying anything. They beat in the back, buttocks, the neck; then they just beat me up with their boots. Blows were coming from all sides. “What are you doing here? Do you want changes? Sing the anthem! Do you like riot police? Who is your president? Are you a patriot of your country?”
They stole my right to vote, so I went out in order to express my civil position. I did that not during my working hours but on my day off
“I lost consciousness. When I recovered my senses, I was lying on the lawn, on the grass. I called the ambulance. They brought me to the emergency hospital and offered hospitalizing, but I refused since I had recently got that job. I took a painkiller and went to work. I felt giddy, everything was hurting, I was nauseous, but I didn’t want to lose the job.”
Soon after those events the employer announced that Stas must quit the job.
“Are you an idiot or a dumbass? You’ve just come to Minsk, why did you go to that protest?”
“They stole my right to vote, so I went out in order to express my civil position. I did that not during my working hours but on my day off.”
Still, it didn’t work.
“On the 11th of August I was detained for the second time, all of a sudden. After work I met my girlfriend in the city centre and we went to the restaurant in the Europe hotel. While the events on the 10th of August could be explained somehow, that time everything was atrocious. Three people in civvies came up to our table without introducing themselves, and one of them took my phone.
“I told you, you must come with us! Otherwise we will carry you out of here!”
“Who are you? Are you police officers? Show me your documents, please. On what grounds must I go with you? Am I detained?”
I was pulled out from the table and dragged outside by the arms and legs. They took me to a yellow minibus with people in black and greenish-spotted uniform in it. They started to dig through my belongings in the bag, to undress me and to tore off the soles from my boots. They demanded to unblock my phone, I refused. At once I got a blow in the face, my ears started ringing. Further there was obscene language and insults. One of the officers recognized me from the video made by Onliner:
“Gotcha! You helped cons, and now they will help you.
His colleagues asked, “So is he a con as well?!”
So they started to beat me up from all sides. I was standing on the knees, and then one of the officers turned me around by the shoulder and said,
“I want to look this scum in the face.”
His eyes were glassy and ferocious. And he punched me hard in the chest with a combat boot. I felt dizzy. There was some kind of euphoria and lightness. Everything got dark. I don’t know what it was.”
I was standing on the knees, and then one of the officers turned me around by the shoulder and said, “I want to look this scum in the face”
“I regained consciousness already in the ambulance. It turned out that I had gone faint. As I got to know later, they took me out of the bus and lay me near the roadway, with my feet on the road. A girl was passing by and called the ambulance. The bag was with me, but my phone and 20 euro had disappeared.
I spent several hours in the hospital where they put me on a drip. I refused hospitalizing again because I had to go to work in the morning. At 9.50 p.m. I went to Partizanskoye district police office. I filed the report with the police and was referred to forensic examination.
The last time when I saw my phone was when I was already in the ambulance and one of the officers was holding in. Later they called me from Partizanskoye district police office and said that according to their documents I allegedly got my phone back; they tried to put the blame on doctors. I filed an application to the public prosecution office so that they would place on record the footage from the security camera at the restaurant, but up to this day I don’t know what happened to it.”
“After the dismissal I went back to Grodno. I was recovering myself. I sleep badly; I often have headache, nausea and general weakness. I used to rush to work, I was eager to go there, but now I don’t even want to go out. After the prison colony where you have not seen air, grass, greenery for years, I developed a habit of simply walking, going to forest – there comes some kind of goodness and peace of mind. And now I’m in a state I have never experienced before – I don’t want anything and I feel apathy and depression.
I got a job as a waiter of the fourth category (look what bowtie and a vest I sewed for myself), but now the situation is difficult. My salary is around 400 roubles, and requests for help keep coming. Before coronavirus people have helped a lot, but now everybody is experiencing difficulties, and help has dropped by 70 percent. There has been amnesty recently, many guys have been included in it and ask for help, but unfortunately I can no longer help all of them.”
My naïve dream is for people to be happy. I wish changes to our country
When I was released from prison, I got into public transport and didn’t understand what was going on. I saw sad and gloomy people’s faces. Later I have realized that their salaries are small, their thoughts are about survival and they are alone with their problems. They are low-spirited and worn down.
I used to dream of happiness. Happiness for me is when you can freely walk the streets, create, and when people smile to each other. It’s also when you can ask a passer-by,
“What mood are you in?”
And a passer-by won’t be gloomy, won’t look at you with angry eyes, won’t tell you to shove it, won’t show you a middle finger, but he will smile and say,
“The weather is so nice today! I’m in a mood to take a cup of coffee.”
My naïve dream is for people to be happy. I wish changes to our country. Every morning I pick up my phone and wonder whether there is some good news. I won’t stop to believe.
P.S. Stas filed the application in August; in November he received the answer that application processing was extended for three months.
*August2020 editorial team thanks The International Committee for the Investigation of Torture in Belarus for help in preparing the material.
On the 10th of August he was detained at the peaceful protest and beaten in the prisoner transport. On the 11th of August he was pulled out of the restaurant in the Europe hotel and beaten in a bus. After both incidents he ended up in hospital