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Vital

Thousands of Belarusians, forced to flee the Lukashenko regime’s repression and find a new home in Ukraine, became refugees for the second time because of the Russia-Ukraine war. Vital is a representative of the "Country to Live in" social movement. His activism started with Siarhei Tsikhanouski’s electoral campaign.

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Marked with a red mark hit especially hard

Artsiom

Thousands of Belarusians, forced to flee the Lukashenko regime’s repression and find a new home in Ukraine, became refugees for a second time because of the Russia-Ukraine war. Many of them took shelter in Poland. Together with the August2020 initiative, we tell stories of such “double” refugees.

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Marked with a red mark hit especially hard

Ihar Krupski

Ihar is only 22, and he has already come up with several ideas for the development of Belarus. So far, none of them can be realized, but he hasn't given up hope. And for his children to be able to live in the Belarus of which millions dream, it was important to make an honest count of the votes in the elections. So, the young man decided to become an election observer. Five days of fear, humiliation and violence – that was the thanks he received from the state. The memories still torment him to this day: "The most terrible moment at Akrestsina was when the policewoman undressed women and beat them. She shouted at them that no one would come to help. And you really can't do anything while you're suffocating in a prison cell".

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Marked with a red mark hit especially hard

Ihar

If Ihar (not his real name) had known in advance that he would be prosecuted in a criminal case after his very first arrest, he would still have taken to the street. He was detained at one of the Sunday protest marches. Ihar calls his story a “light version” of what happened to people in August 2020. However, his knees are still bothering him after he had to stay in an awkward position while in detention. From the point of view of human rights, Ihar’s story is nowhere near being “light”: why should a man lose 13 days of his life in the Akrestsina detention center for nothing?

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Marked with a red mark hit especially hard