Statkevich told how he survived in captivity. And what he is doing now

"I was punished 6 times in a row with 6 months in a solitary cell – there is such a type of punishment in a special regime with a maximum term of 6 months – a cell measuring 1x3 meters, with "walks" of half an hour a day in a not much larger, almost solid metal box under a metal roof with artificial lighting even during the day.

It's hard for years not to see the sky above you, even through a net.

And additionally, getting into the disciplinary isolation cell (SHIZA) 1-2 times a month, where I spent about a year in total. They hadn't done anything like that to anyone else there. Experienced inmates said that they were 'killing me off, like, for natural reasons'.

In addition, the complete lack of information from outside about loved ones, and Maryna was then seriously and dangerously ill, also put strong pressure on me.

It got to the point where one of the institution's heads, through another inmate, conveyed a "humane" offer to me: to ask to be transferred to a "covered" prison myself, where conditions are incomparably milder. I sharply refused, because in these places, any sign of weakness would only provoke increased pressure.

I resisted their plans, tried to preserve myself — I walked a lot even in that cell, did some physical exercises, read a lot of literature on philosophy and social psychology when books were still issued from the library, tried to learn English until the textbooks were taken away, in SHIZA, I thought through a fairly long text dedicated to the genesis of human morality, a person's choice of their behavior model, the moral choice of an individual in a critical situation.

Then I even made drafts of it on paper, but they disappeared within the KGB during an attempt at my illegal deportation. Now I will have to find time and restore this text, because I don't like unfinished business.

So, I maintained a decent form for such conditions and three bouts of COVID.

At least, I had enough strength for a "breakout" at the limit of my abilities. But when I refused deportation, I perfectly understood that they wouldn't just let me go free, and I was preparing for the worst.

But everything turned out to be very simple — after the second COVID in the Homel pre-trial detention center, doctors prescribed certain medications for me.

Maryna sent them to me in the colony, with frequent interruptions, but they reached me and were issued to me. For 3 years, this was the only means of communication between us. Because, upon receiving a medical parcel, I knew that Maryna was alive. And she tracked those parcels by code and, when they were picked up from the post office, she knew the same.

But since September last year, my location was simply concealed, so, accordingly, Maryna didn't know where I was; they told her in the colony that I wasn't there, and her medical parcels didn't arrive.

They told me they would issue their own "analogues". So, for example, the prophylactic agent for blood clot formation, 'Xarelto', was replaced with aspirin.

Then, in the prison hospitals, the doctors jointly mocked me, for some reason, because of this replacement and said that such a replacement for post-COVID problems was unacceptable, that it was this that caused my stroke.

Thus, I have every reason to believe that this stroke was provoked artificially and intentionally.

But the doctors in the prison hospitals, thanks to them, did everything to minimize its consequences. It did not affect any of my body's physical functions, except for speech.

Now I feel good, blood pressure is — a constant 120/80 for me. I've started physical exercise again. I regularly work online with speech therapist Pani Yulia — a Belarusian living in the USA, to whom I am very grateful that after a hard day's work she finds time and strength to help me. Speech is slowly recovering, but more time is needed.

True, the authorities periodically raise my emotional tone. Perhaps, to speed up recovery after the stroke."

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