Siarhei Antusevich: I remember the faces of those I left behind bars

“Three years of freedom. Today I woke up almost at five in the morning. Jetlag after a flight across the ocean. And suddenly I remembered: exactly three years ago I also woke up at five.

October 31, 2023. Colony. An hour before reveille. I got up and went to wash. It was my last morning behind bars. I miscalculated, I don't go to breakfast, I carry the "cotton", I say goodbye to those who are being charged for the beam at this time.

I listen to the caustic remarks of an operative with the surname Suvorov, who promises "a sweet life" to those who dared to see me off with tea yesterday.

And today I am in Washington. I am participating in the Roll Call for Freedom events, dedicated to the International Day of Political Prisoners, meeting people, talking about Belarus, independent trade unions, and political prisoners. I generate this photo in a ChatGPT chat and am surprised how much it has grown in a year.

Near the Lincoln Memorial, I told the story of Vaclav Areshka, whom I have known for over 20 years. He is still behind bars and lost his sight in captivity.

Three years ago, I couldn't even imagine that I would be in Washington, talking about my colleagues who are still in prison.

Today I am free. I can travel, meet people, make plans.

But my friends still wake up in colonies at six in the morning. And they don't know how many more such mornings lie ahead.

I remember the faces of those I left behind bars. The faces of friends who met me in freedom, and now are political prisoners themselves. For three years I have lived in freedom, and they are still there.

And most of all, I want to wait for the morning when all of them wake up not from the command "Reveille!", but because they themselves want to," Siarhei Antusevich wrote.

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The Deputy Chairman of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions, who led the independent trade union "Hrodna Azot" for 10 years, was detained on April 19, 2022, and placed in the KGB pre-trial detention center. On the same day, searches were conducted in the BCDU office and Siarhei Antusevich's apartment. He was charged under Part 1 of Art. 342 of the Criminal Code (Group actions that grossly violate public order). In December 2022, Siarhei Antusevich was sentenced to two years in a penal colony. He served his sentence in penal colony No. 15 in Mahilioŭ, and was released on October 31, 2023.

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