Fundraising Announced for the Treatment of Former Political Prisoner Dzmitry Hopta
The human rights initiative "Dapamoga" announced fundraising for Dzmitry Hopta, a former political prisoner with mental disabilities.
Dzmitry Hopta. Photo: Dapamoga
"Currently, Dima is in the rehabilitation center "Naujas Gyvenimas" and thanks to the help of specialists, he is fighting his addiction step by step. This is a difficult and long journey, but now he is not going through it alone.
Dzmitry's mother, Volha, expresses great gratitude to everyone who responded and financially supported the family at the beginning of the year. Thanks to your help, it was possible to pay for 5 months of Dzmitry's stay at the center.
Specialists working with Dzmitry recommend continuing the rehabilitation program until the end of this year," Dapamoga reports.
The required fundraising amount is calculated as follows:
- The cost of one month's stay at the center is 500 euros.
- To continue treatment, another 7 months (June - December) must be paid.
- The total amount required is 3500 euros.
"Every transfer is not just financial support," Dapamoga notes. "It is a chance for a person to return to life, restore themselves and their future."
You can support Dzmitry Hopta via the link.
Dzmitry Hopta and his fate became one of the clearest symbolic embodiments of the exceptional immorality and ruthlessness of the regime created by Alyaksandr Lukashenka.
This man has a mental illness, he has intellectual disabilities. In 2020, then 21-year-old, he was detained during protests in his hometown of Zhlobin and sentenced, despite the young man's health problems, to two years of imprisonment. On the advice of the appointed state lawyer, Hopta confirmed that he threw a stone at the police, pro-government medical experts concluded that he knew what he was doing, and Judge Iryna Pradun sentenced him to two years of imprisonment without any reductions for his mental peculiarities.
Afterward, Dzmitry's mother fought for two years to have her son released early. She appealed for a pardon addressed to Lukashenka, a petition for his release was signed by 7,000 people, and there were hopes that the unfortunate young man would fall under an amnesty.
But all efforts and hopes were in vain — Dzmitry Hopta served his entire sentence from start to finish and was released only on December 31, 2022. Moreover, in September 2022, he was included in the Ministry of Internal Affairs' list of "persons involved in extremist activities," which meant additional abuse. His mother testified that he never truly understood why he was being punished until the very end of his imprisonment.
In April 2023, it became known that Dzmitry Hopta and his mother had left Belarus for Vilnius.