Siarhei Antusevich: I remember the faces of those I left behind bars

«Three years of freedom. Today I woke up almost at five in the morning. Jet lag after flying across the ocean. And suddenly I remembered: exactly three years ago I also woke up at five.

October 31, 2023. The penal colony. An hour before wake-up. I got up and went to wash. It was my last morning behind bars. A miscalculation, I don't go for breakfast, I make my reports (literally 'carry cotton'), I say goodbye to those who are being taken for their exercise walk at this time.

I listen to the caustic remarks of an operative named Suvorov, who promises a "sweet life" to those who dared to see me off with tea yesterday.

And today I am in Washington. I am participating in the Roll Call for Freedom events, dedicated to the International Day of Political Prisoners, meeting people, telling them about Belarus, independent trade unions, and political prisoners. I generate this photo in a ChatGPT chat and am amazed at how much it has grown in a year.

Near the Lincoln Memorial, I told the story of Vaclau Areshka, whom I have known for over 20 years. He is still behind bars and lost his sight in captivity.

Three years ago, I couldn't even imagine that I would be in Washington, telling stories about my colleagues who are still in prison.

Today I am free. I can travel, meet people, make plans.

But my friends still wake up in penal colonies at six in the morning. And they don't know how many more such mornings lie ahead.

I remember the faces of those I left behind bars. The faces of friends who met me upon my release, and are now themselves political prisoners. For three years I have lived in freedom, while they are still there.

And most of all, I want to live to see the morning when they all wake up not to the command "Wake up!", but because they themselves want to," Siarhei Antusevich wrote.

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The Deputy Chairman of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions, who for 10 years headed the independent trade union "Hrodna Azot," was arrested on April 19, 2022, and placed in the KGB pre-trial detention center. On the same day, searches were conducted in the office of the BCDTU and Siarhei Antusevich's apartment. He was charged under Part 1 of Art. 342 of the Criminal Code (Group actions grossly violating public order). In December 2022, Siarhei Antusevich was sentenced to two years in a penal colony. He served his sentence in penal colony No. 15 in Mahiliou, and was released on October 31, 2023.

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