30 Dec 2010
Generation With Prison Stories
Today the first wave of the people detained during the protest have been released as their sentences expired. More could be released during the night and later this week. In 2006 me and my friends were released at around 3 am after being detained for 10 days as a punishment for being in the vicinity of a protesting square. In the night of our release we were met by a huge crowd outside of the prison, who came to show their support to the arrested. They were calling us brave people and heroes and saying many nice things. The crowd was applauding to every person who was leaving the doors of the prison. That was a very touching moment, a kind of positive push back into the life after being detained without any information about what was going on in the country.
The same has been prepared for the arrested this year – our little tradition in Belarus! Groups of supporting people were gathering in front of prisons in Minsk and Zhodina to give a proper welcome and express their support and simply give them a lift to their homes. But the police started to take people in buses out of prisons and were dropping them outside of courts or some random places in the city. So that there is no one point where a crowd is cheering the released heroes and helping them…
5 years ago we were arrested on March 20th. It was snowing and very cold, still a normal winter. The first day outside (March 31st) for us was one of the first days of the spring – the snow had almost melted, the sun was shining, the wind was already getting warm (or so it felt after the detention). We were met by a big group of friends and spent the rest of the night talking about what was inside and outside of prisons during those days, discussing what was about to happen next.
And now imagine what is happening in the heads of those released today? Stressful arrest, physical and psychological traumas, humiliation and insults while in prison (first scary stories are already appearing online) and then when you are already free they put you in a bus and bring to a random place. And you are standing there. Tired, probably ill, dirty and smelly with a bag of prison “souvenirs” (me and my friend still keep plastic cups with our names that we used during those 10 days, sentimental value, i guess) and alone… As if no one cares. All of it is so cruel I can not understand where it is coming from, when even such little signs of humanity are not allowed!
Isn’t it scary that we are turning into a generation of people with prison stories?