In Lithuania, fleeing from Belarus repression by the authorities, two Belarusian sound engineers arrived during the government-hosted event to play Victor Coy’s song “Peremen!” (“Change!”), Which has become the anthem of Belarusian protesters.
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According to one of them, Vladislav Sokolovsky, 30, they left Belarus for fear of a long prison sentence for receiving threats during detention and interrogation at the Interior Ministry.
On August 6, three days before the presidential election in Belarus, Sokolowski and his 27-year-old colleague Kirill Galanov interrupted a government-run event in Kiev Square in Minsk with a legendary Coya song, and the next day a court sentenced them to administrative arrest for ten days for hooliganism and protest. law enforcement officers “.
According to Sokolovsky, already on August 6 Lithuania the embassy offered them assistance, but after his release from detention contacted them again and they decided to accept this offer of assistance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqmISCGcrOc
He arrived in Lithuania on August 22. “I want to thank the Lithuanian people and especially the people who have accepted us. Indeed, more has been done for us than we could have hoped for. Thank you very much!” said Sokolovsky.
Khabarovsk does not give up Belarus, we are with you! Alexey, live Russia, wake up! Change???????????????????????? pic.twitter.com/9MaosKILFG
— Ksenia Pearl (@heizhenzhu1) August 22, 2020
Belarus, known as the gloomy and living Soviet remnant of the USSR, cries out for change. With love and arms full of flowers, the citizens sing with emotion the words of Victor Tsui Перемен (Piri-men). In Minsk they are waiting to overthrow the last dictator in Europe. pic.twitter.com/bGcoNW3zcU
– The Visitor (@HaMevak) August 22, 2020
He said that he had spent five of the ten days in detention in solitary confinement and that on the night of 9 August an unknown person had arrived at him, accompanied by several law enforcement officers. “Face to face! Want a change? Turn on the song? A lot of people have taken to the streets, many have been arrested, and how many more are in the hospital … Get ready, you’re still in front of you, will sit for ten years. Another friend of friends,” said the stranger twice. hit on the back.
“Our hearts demand change”# ЖЫВЕБеларусь pic.twitter.com/xK7t1cLxl1
– kita (@MrsGordons) August 26, 2020
“The blows were not strong, but rather intimidating. (..) When he left, he turned to his subordinates: Do him the right thing, otherwise he is sitting here like in a sanatorium,” Sokolovskis said, adding that since then he has not been let down at night and sat down, in addition, the ventilation is on and the cell was very cold.
Kirill Galanov and Vlad Sokolovsky became my heroes yesterday. pic.twitter.com/Xi4DwUqZJj
– Poisonous Belarusian Pie ???????????? (@ket_matroskina) August 7, 2020
When he was released, Sokolvsky told reporters about the incident, assuming that he was most likely visited and beaten by Deputy Minister of the Interior Alexander Barsukov. On 21 August, he was summoned to the Ministry of the Interior, where he was asked to withdraw the statement, otherwise threatening to prosecute. “I can’t say 100% that it was Barsukov. I officially signed that it wasn’t him,” Sokolovsky told BNS.
People sing “Change!” on Independence Square. Video: Belsat pic.twitter.com/Wutb0TqVWK
– MBH Media (@MBKhMedia) August 20, 2020
After his release from the cell, he was deprived of his clothes and shoes. However, he was eventually placed in another six-seater cell with about 30 people. “People were dressed there, the conditions were unsanitary. (..) The night of August 12 was the most terrible. I heard constant shouts and dull blows. As far as I understood, there were people in the hallway. I heard one of the employees say to someone, ‘We will make you the first group of disabled people. You will never be able to walk again. “There were people in the cell who were held out to the ground for six to eight hours and beaten continuously,” he said.
В.Цой. Belarus edition. pic.twitter.com/L563xkMTso
– Ahrest ⚪????⚪ (@ ahrest1) August 19, 2020
Since the crackdown on the opposition in Belarus following the presidential election, Lithuania has already accepted 22 citizens of the country on humanitarian grounds, half of whom have formally applied for political asylum.
“All these people are safe,” Bozena Zaborovska-Zdanovic, an adviser to the Minister of the Interior, told BNS. According to her, a total of 36 people have been granted permission to enter Belarus due to special humanitarian reasons.
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