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“I don’t want to stay in the country where only pensioners and riot police will remain”

Marked with a red mark hit especially hard

Elena is an activist who can easily contend with Nina Baginskaya in the protest experience. Elena’s story of going to protests started in the beginning of the 90s. Still, the woman thinks that she hasn’t done enough. On the 10th of August she went out for a walk at Stela. There she saw how people were detained and couldn’t help coming to the defense of them. As a result, she was hit in the chest with a baton, and the bruise evolved into a dangerous induration.

Elena Lebedinskaya,pensioner
Age: 61 years old
City: Minsk
When: 10.08.2020

Elena came to the defense of the group of cyclists who were being detained by riot police and she got a chest injury

Held in custody: Prisoner transport, around an hour
Medical diagnosis: The bruise on the chest which evolved into a dangerous induration
Aftermath: Long-term treatment and rehabilitation

Author: Project team August2020

Photo: Project team August2020

Elena is wearing a red and white scarf almost always. When we met, she showed us the photo of her granddaughter, who prefers red and white combinations, just as her grandmother. Elena was wearing the same scarf on the 10th of August, when she decided to go out for a walk at Stela. 


– It was around 6 p.m. I was already on my way home and was standing at the bus stop. Two police officers came up to me and said: “You’d better leave this place. It might get dangerous here”. I answered: “Why should I be afraid? Is a war going on or do we have military emergency? I’m not afraid.”
 


The state of things was actually peaceful until blue buses stopped near the bus stop and people in military clothes came out.


– A group of cyclists drove up on the bicycle track from the direction of Drozdy. They were standing at a loss, not knowing where they should continue cycling. It could be seen that a cordon was already lined up behind Stela. And then the security forces began to grab the guys. They were thrown off their bicycles and pulled to the buses. There were children there; some of them might even not be 18 years old. They were so thin. I saw that they tried to grab the thin ones, and they didn’t grab those who were heavier, - Elena laughs. The fun quickly disappears when Elena recalls the continuation of the story.  – So they started to grab them. There were girls with the guys, and they started screaming! Naturally, I got in there. They threw me off. I started to take photos. One of them came up to me and said: “Give me your phone!” I didn’t do that. He turned around and hit, or rather poked me in the chest with a baton with all his strength. Clearly, I bent in the opposite direction. He took my phone and deleted everything.

Why should I be afraid? Is a war going on or do we have military emergency?

Elena was put into the minibus together with the guys. She wasn’t put in there carefully – Elena fell down and got her knees injured. 


– Then probably their chief officer came up. He saw an aunt, while there were kids in there. “What is she doing here? He told me: “Get the f… out of here”. That’s what he said. So I went, glared down by sun. Overall, there was nothing heroic in what I did. 

Elena says that this is not the first troublesome story of her communication with security agencies. In 2011 Elena was in the underground when the explosion took place. Elena shows us the newspaper clipping. She wasn’t recognized as a victim, and the compensation wasn’t paid to her. In 2012 when the memorial in the memory of that tragic event was being opened, she actively spoke up about the unfair situation. 

– Then I went straight to the underground, and on my way out some boys in civilian clothes grabbed me. I was resisting and shouting: “People, help!” They hit me in the forehead against a column and put me into a car. They took me to Tsentralnoye district police office, but they didn’t know what to do with me. They held me there for a while and let me go. They only said that I had no documents, which was untrue, because I always carry my passport with me. I asked them who had brought me there. They said that they didn’t know. I naturally lodged a statement with the police because I had been kidnapped and beaten. Their answer was to decline to prosecute as only trivial injuries had been identified which might have developed after falling down from one’s own height. As simple as that.

It feels as if you have brought a rat and you feed it little by little, it is growing. However, the rat is disgusting, and you don’t like it. Still, it is a pity to throw it away

After the unpleasant situation on the 10th of August Elena’s chest was blue and her knees were aching. Elena says that it is “no big deal” and lowers her eyes sadly.

– I didn’t pay much attention to that. But the thing is that there was a bruise on my chest and it started to grow. After 10 days I realized that I was in trouble. I went to hospital, and doctors told me that an operation was needed as there was a great risk of a cancer disease. They prescribed further examinations. The prices were so high! For a pensioner… I felt bad because you have to pay such amounts of money, but what for? So I reached out IMENA center of medical help. By pure accident I saw on the Internet that you could contact Imena Media. I wrote to them and got the answer in a day. Thank God! To be honest, I didn’t expect that. 

The volunteers sent Elena to a private medical center for examination. There they calmed her down a bit and said that no operation was needed at the moment and that she could try more gentle methods of treatment. 

– Then the guys from the center of medical help offered me to go to a Belarusian health center. After all the procedures the lump decreased three times, and there is a progress. I got treatment for my knees and for my kidney too, the kidney got injured in 1996. Many years have passed, but it still hurt. They beat us in those times as well – on the Day of Liberty and in Kurapaty. However, now they do it with such a pleasure, such a pleasure.

All Elena’s family members support her, even her mother, who is 89 years old. 

– My mother went through the entire occupation in Minsk as a teenager. She saw many things, but when they beat students near her windows… I was reviving her for a week after that. She said: “I’ve seen a lot, raids, they grabbed us, but how they beat people now! They chase a person as if he is a bunny, and then 6 of them knock him down and beat. I am shocked – where does this cruelty come from?” Now every weekend my mother stands on the balcony and holds a chair so that people can stand on it and get inside. She lives on the first floor. She opens the entrance door intercom as well. However, the neighbours argue with her. She says: “We were beaten by enemies, and now they beat our own people, the same nation. And children. Where does such cruelty come from?” You know, if we don’t put a stop to all this, I don’t know how it will end. I don’t want to stay in the country where only pensioners and riot police will remain.

You see, I feel guilty now; we should have been bolder then and should have felt more or less pity for our relatives when we used to say: “I can go, and you sit at home because you have a job or a degree certificate”. But we suffered. What can I say now? It feels as if you have brought a rat and you feed it little by little, it is growing. However, the rat is disgusting, and you don’t like it. Still, it is a pity to throw it away and you don’t have a heart to do it. 

P.S.  Elena didn’t lodge a complaint to the Investigating Committee. 

If you have suffered during peaceful demonstrations and are ready to tell your story, write to us at avgust2020belarus@gmail.com with the note “History”. We will contact you. thanks

Elena Lebedinskaya,pensioner
Age: 61 years old
City: Minsk
When: 10.08.2020

Elena came to the defense of the group of cyclists who were being detained by riot police and she got a chest injury

Held in custody: Prisoner transport, around an hour
Medical diagnosis: The bruise on the chest which evolved into a dangerous induration
Aftermath: Long-term treatment and rehabilitation