Belarus: escaping Lukashenko’s regime at any cost – European Press Prize

Sviatlana stayed with Yulya and her family for the next few weeks, trying to figure out ways to get to Europe. Yulya went to the police and told them she had lost her passport. She received a form that she took to the Belarusian embassy, asking for a temporary document that would allow her to return home. “When I came to the embassy they already knew about me. I saw a photocopy of my passport printed out, and I heard the officers giving a call to the national security service notifying them of my presence in the embassy. Then they muted the microphone, so I couldn’t hear. I wanted to run, but it was clear that I wouldn’t succeed. There were about eight guards and a bunch of people in civilian clothes. I was hoping that Sviatlana, and others who were waiting for me outside, would make a scene and wouldn’t let them take me away. To my huge surprise, they gave me the document, and asked when I was leaving. I said today.” This document allowed her to buy a plane ticket to Minsk with a transfer in Warsaw. She got off the plane there and asked for asylum. Her family soon followed.

Sviatlana left Kiev and landed in Vilnius on 20 May. She’d prefer not to explain how she managed to board the flight. “You always have to think about people who will follow the same path, and if I were to make this information public, that road might become closed for them.”

The entire family was waiting for her at the airport. Six months had passed since they had seen one another. “The children were very happy, especially the little one. The eldest had changed a lot. I left him as a child, and I was met by a grown-up, with a deep voice and a bearded face.”

The family is now waiting for political refugee status. On 12 September, Tamara and the kids will receive the verdict of their application. Sviatlana’s will come later. Since she is not allowed to work until then she is dedicating her time to volunteering. Using the contacts she has made during her journey, she’s connecting those who need to flee Belarus with those who can provide help. Other than that, she’s also taking a coding course, learning the Lithuanian language, and has applied for a grant to the Marine Academy.

“I’d like to wish peace and cooperation to all our diaspora, because only through cooperation will we be able to help one other. In my case, help came from everywhere […] a little help from everyone is a huge contribution. If I hadn’t received this kind of assistance from each person, my story wouldn’t have been possible. Bysol helped me with the escape, Natalya Kolegova, Dopomoga and Nash Dom helped my family with paying the rent and buying food. The volunteers from the Netherlands paid the plane tickets for my mother and I […] The Russian volunteers are something out of this world, they helped me and Yulya completely selflessly, paying for us out of their own pockets […] The most important thing is unity.”

Sviatlana, her mother and her kids are now living in a house with white walls, which they share with another Lithuanian family. Their home is filled with life; the children are visited constantly by Lithuanian and Belarusian friends. They live in the town of Lentvaris, 40 minutes from Vilnius. Many Belarusian families have settled here since people began fleeing the country. “Shortly after we moved here, we met the girls next door. They’re also from Belarus but their story is different to ours. Their parents weren’t arrested, but their godfather was,” says Sviatlana’s oldest daughter, Taisiya.

In Belarus, Sviatlana has been charged with a criminal offence based on the scarecrow protest. Officially her case has been described as “angry hooliganism, clinically and nihilistically neglecting society’s norms and ideals, as well as insulting the president.” Around thirty people were part of the Telegram chat that organised the demonstration. Three other participants were sentenced to over three years each in prison. Seven have fled the country. The rest were not identified by the authorities and still live in Mogilev.

Across the country, the Belarusian opposition continues to be persecuted. On 23 May, the exiled journalist Roman Protassevitch was arrested in Minsk airport after his flight to Vilnius was diverted there. He has been detained by the authorities ever since. On 6 July another opposition leader and presidential candidate, Victor Babariko, was sentenced to 14 years in jail for corruption and money laundering. The day before, on 5 July, the United Nations envoy for Belarus called for the immediate release of 530 political prisoners.