"There are no supermen or terminators among us either." Pavel Vinahradau on what to do when they try to recruit you

"To begin recruiting you, you must be in a vulnerable position. Achieving this in modern Belarus is incredibly easy. They arrive, twist your arms – and that's it. You're already stressed. In prison it's even simpler – you're in a vulnerable position 24/7 there.

Then they take you to an office and either start threatening you with something bad (a criminal case, problems for relatives, solitary confinement), or offer something good (help with studies, solving minor problems with the police, closing a criminal case, an easier life in prison), or both.

Next, you either agree – and will most likely be given a codename to choose – or you don't agree – and then you're reading this text purely for entertainment. Though who knows what might become useful in life. Don't be too quick to dismiss it.

But something unpleasant has happened to you, and you are now, after all, an unofficial employee. Would I have wanted you not to become an unofficial employee? Yes, I would. But this is life. It's not chess, and one checkmate isn't enough here.

Listen, folks, I've been in prison more than once. I've been in various settings, under different conditions, and for varying periods of time. And during my last incarceration, I finally became convinced that there are no supermen among us. Nor are there terminators.

And professionals in their vile business possess a sufficient set of tools to break a person even without physical violence. The sentence already weighs heavily. You're already worrying about yourself and your loved ones. And there's 'Hitler' everywhere, and if on top of that:

a ban on letters, a ban on calls, a ban on visits, a ban on a lawyer, a couple of months in a cold isolation cell, specially trained inmates constantly provoking conflicts, and the rest are simply afraid to talk to you – then voilà! The person is ready to crack. (By the way, usually half of what's listed is enough)

And then you're given a task. In most cases, it will be: "Bring us information." Now you have your last chance for a decisive "Go to hell," so that what I write next isn't necessary. But, as a rule, once a person has chosen their codename, they will still bring the information.

It's important to understand that there's no harmless information (the exception being if you've made an arrangement with the person you're informing on). Because if you were told to find out something, it means they need that something for a specific purpose. And not to sow wisdom, goodness, and eternity, but to more skillfully devour people.

I don't know how far things have gone for you or what you've said. It happened. It's bad. But your (our) task now is not to make it worse.

First and foremost, you need to get to safety. If you haven't been deported – deport yourself. From this moment on, sever all contact with your handlers. You are no longer their pawn.

Next, if you decide that politics is a thing of the past for you and you're stepping back – contact everyone you provided information about and tell them. They need to know, so they can protect themselves if necessary.

If you decide that politics / human rights advocacy / journalism and other high-risk activities will still be part of your life – in addition to the previous point, provide an honest public account of everything that happened.

Because a secret that is no longer a secret cannot be used for blackmail or for loud propaganda stunts. And purely from a human perspective, that would be the right thing to do," wrote Pavel Vinahradau.

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