During his imprisonment, Maksim Znak developed a project aimed at encouraging other prisoners to read, and wrote 18 manuscripts — about five thousand pages. All these texts were taken from him, but now he is trying to restore them from memory.
At a meeting with Belarusians in Vilnius on Monday, Maksim Znak sang his songs, told how he circumvented prison restrictions on receiving literature and how he almost lost the ability to walk in the PCT, writes "Belsat".
The meeting with Maksim Znak took place on July 20 at the House of National Communities in Vilnius. The event was advertised on the poster as a concert of "songs, stories, and answers". For an hour and a half, Znak sang, spoke about life after release, his creative plans, and answered questions from those present.
One of the main themes of the meeting was literature. In captivity, Znak not only wrote a lot but also read almost constantly. He entered all the books he read into a separate list.
After his release, part of this list had to be restored. Znak said that he uses artificial intelligence, among other things, for this purpose. He asks it to name all books by a specific author, and then compares the obtained list with what he remembers.
Most of all, among what he read behind bars, he was impressed by the work of French economist Thomas Piketty "Capital in the 21st Century".
"A very great book. There's a lot of infographics, statistics, and such interesting statistics that it just blew me away," Znak said.
Piketty's book is dedicated to economic inequality, wealth concentration, and how capital has been distributed in various countries over a long historical period.
How Znak circumvented the five-book-a-week limit
In the prison library, they allowed five books per week. However, according to him, he actually read much more.
Znak took additional literature from cellmates. If someone was willing to give him their book, that person had to refrain from ordering another publication for the next period. Znak also arranged to exchange already read books for others and received what prisoners in cell-type facilities refused.
According to Znak, he sometimes managed to get more than ten books in one period. Some of them were exactly the literature he had ordered, but often he had to take what was available.
During his imprisonment, he read a lot of popular science literature, economic works, and fiction. Some books, according to Znak, were very weak, but there were also many good ones among them.
In the colony, Znak came up with his own book project. He wanted to turn reading into a game where for each book read, a person would gain a new level and could choose in which direction to develop further. Znak developed it almost like a real startup: he described the game mechanics, the necessary team, the roles of participants, and possible launch stages.
The result was a document of about 30 pages, similar to a business plan. The project was reviewed by the prison librarian for about two months.
All this time, Znak was in the PCT and, as he himself joked, tried to manage the project from his cell. But eventually the librarian asked him one question: "What for?"
"And then I realized that this whole business plan didn't fit into his life plan at all. He wasn't interested in people reading more books. On the contrary, he was logically interested in them reading even less," Znak said.
Five thousand pages in small squares
Behind bars, Maksim Znak not only read. According to him, during his imprisonment, he wrote 18 books — a total of about five thousand pages in small squares.
He wrote on paper he managed to get in the pre-trial detention center and the colony. Znak recalled that sometimes it became one of the most valuable resources, especially when there was no opportunity to buy new notebooks or other items. Later, all his manuscripts were taken from him.
After his release, Znak got the opportunity to work at a literary residency in Wannsee near Berlin. Another residency is planned in Salzburg. He uses this time to restore the confiscated texts from memory.
"I decided that I wouldn't give them these manuscripts, even though they took them. And now I'm retrieving them from my head. And I've already retrieved a lot," Znak said.
One of the books will be "Azkameron" — a hundred stories from the pre-trial detention center. The title refers to Giovanni Boccaccio's "Decameron", which also consists of one hundred novellas.
According to Znak, "Azkameron" has already been translated and is expected to be released in the next month or two.
He collected stories from the colony in a separate book titled "The Colonists". It will contain 72 texts. The author is currently completing work on the manuscript.
After several books about imprisonment, Znak would finally like to write on other topics.
"I say: 'I want to write about love!' — 'Write about prison'. 'I want to write about travel!' — 'Write about prison'. 'I even want to write about sports!' — 'Write about prison'. Well, in short, I wrote about prison, and now I'm writing about love," he said.
Besides books, Znak plans to finish writing and record songs, some of which still exist only in his memory. "Belsat" learned that Maksim Znak, while imprisoned, translated the famous bard song "Come to me, Glafira," written in 1987 by the duo "Ivasi," into Belarusian.
How a ten-kilometer race was organized in the colony
Before his imprisonment, Maksim Znak actively engaged in sports and running. In the colony, through other people, he managed to organize a ten-kilometer competition.
Znak himself also took part and very much wanted to win. However, even then the condition of his legs was poor.
"My legs were no longer the same, they were weakened by this colony," he said.
Shortly after the race, Znak was placed in a cell-type facility. There, his health problems sharply worsened.
According to him, he could only walk a few laps around the small prison yard, after which he had to stop and lean against the wall.
Local doctors told Znak that his condition would worsen. They predicted that he would stop walking, would be bedridden, and would have to have food brought to him. There was also talk of arthrosis and possible joint replacement.
"The scenario was that I would remain an invalid. That's what the local doctors told me," he recalled.
At that moment, there was still a possibility to receive some messages from the outside. Znak's sister managed to pass him a set of exercises recommended by other doctors.
He began performing these exercises, although, according to him, he almost didn't hope for a result.
"After four months, I started walking again," Znak said.
After his release, he tried to return to running and ran seven kilometers, but his leg problems flared up again. Then Znak underwent a course of treatment and rehabilitation, including physiotherapy, massages, and laser procedures.
Recently, he ran ten kilometers again. From August, he plans to return to regular sports activities.
I have no personal enemies"
Answering whether he personally plans to seek punishment for people who violated his rights, Znak emphasized that he does not want revenge.
"I no longer have personal enemies," he said.
According to Znak, during his imprisonment, he did not encounter true sadists whom nothing restrained. He knows that other political prisoners encountered such people and suffered physical and psychological trauma, but he does not want to attribute others' experiences to himself.
At the same time, Znak believes that, in the sense of the European Convention, his detention conditions amounted to torture.
He has many more questions not for individual perpetrators, but for those who created and maintained the entire system of isolation and repression.
Znak noted that in the future he is ready to participate in the restoration of Belarus's legal system.
"If I have the opportunity to participate in legal work to build something on the ruins that are there now, then I will do it," he replied.
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