"Birds Locked in a Cage"

"Birds that were locked up
in a cage"

How students who participated in autumn protests were convicted in Belarus

On July 16, Belarus announced the verdict of 12 young people in the “Students’ Case,” initiated after the October protests and strikes that took place at many Belarusian universities. DOXA tells how the Belarusian authorities declared war on students and what it is like for Belarusian students to see friends with whom they sat at the same desk in handcuffs behind bars.

Solidarity actions at universities began on September 1, 2020, when thousands of students from the capital’s universities walked along the central streets of the city with the slogans “Together to the end,” “Students with the people,” and “Sasha, you’re expelled,” intending to take a petition with demands to the Ministry building education. “These actions continued for quite a long time, the most active guys united into initiative groups and created telegram channels at their universities,” says a MSLU student. According to official data, were detained more than 20 people at the Students' March. This is how the Belarusian case against youth began.

On October 13, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya presented an “ultimatum ” to Alexander Lukashenko and stated that state terror was taking place in the country. On October 25, 13 days after the ultimatum was announced, Lukashenko was supposed to leave his post, stop the violence in the streets and release all political prisoners. Not a single requirement was met.

On the morning of November 12, ten students, a teacher and one graduate were searched, after which employees of the State Security Committee took them away for interrogation. All detainees were accused of “organizing actions that grossly violate public order.” The Investigative Committee claimed that the accused allegedly discussed the organization and course of protests with Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. Hearings in the case began on May 14. Journalists and diplomats from EU countries were not allowed into the hearings; only some relatives of the accused were able to enter the hall. According to the friends of the detainees, the hearings looked very unrealistic: the girls sat in a large white cage, and the boys in a low gray cage, almost resting their heads on the ceiling: “the girls are small, thin, it feels like they are birds locked in a cage.” .

On the first day of the hearings, about 200 people came to the House of Justice in Minsk: 14 of them were detained, the rest were dispersed by riot police. Two BSU students detained that day, Olga Voitovich and Savelia Dubovik, were expelled from the university for participating in the action. On July 16, a court in Minsk announced the verdict for the defendants in the “Students’ Case”: all 11 students and teachers were sentenced to 2.5 years in a general regime colony, only MSLU student Gleb Fitzner, who admitted guilt, was given a shorter term - 2 years.

After this, those involved in the “student case” were registered as “prone to extremism and illegal actions.” This means that in the colony they will be checked more intensively and more often, and they will not be able to commute their sentences or be released on parole, that is, before the end of their sentence.

How did Belarusian universities protest?

Each university protested in its own way: BSMU students stood in chains of solidarity in medical gowns, and at BNTU they printed leaflets, dressed in white and red colors and wrote postcards in support of students in the pre-trial detention center on Okrestina. Many students were expelled after the protests, arrested or beaten by riot police.

The names of the respondents are at the disposal of the editors, but they wished to remain anonymous due to the threat to their own safety.

Minsk State Linguistic University (MSLU)

Student political prisoners: 2

Students expelled: 19

Teachers fired: 7

How did the actions go?

Security forces and the university administration tried to prevent student protests from the very first days: “On September 4, when the protest took place inside the university, and not on the porch, riot police burst inside. I then found myself in the first row of the hitch, we were pressed into a corner and tried to snatch the guys out, whom the girls were covering with themselves. They shouted at us, tried to film us, we saw how guys were carried out of the university by the arms and legs, their arms were twisted and they were dragged along the floor. And the administration just stood there and did nothing. She didn’t protect us then, it seems, on the worst day of the school year, then everyone realized that they wouldn’t protect us in the future.” After participating in the protests, the student was summoned for preventive conversations, threatened to deprive her of a place in the dormitory, and then expelled from the university, signing a decree retroactively.

The same former student says: “What I remember most is the strike on October 26, when thousands of students gathered together near one of the main buildings of BSU. They called the riot police, but we formed a line and did not let anyone be taken away. The riot policeman said to the guy who was standing next to me: “get the fuck out or I’ll put a bullet in your forehead,” that was scary. But I had such a feeling of unity that I was sure: if they tried to detain one, a fight would begin and attempts to fight off complete strangers. Then it seemed that victory was close and we ourselves felt invincible.”

Political prisoner - Gleb Fitzner

Gleb Fitzner, a 4th year student at the Faculty of Intercultural Communications at Moscow State Linguistic University, is 20 years old. He was detained on November 12 along with ten other defendants in the case for organizing and participating in student marches. “I have always said and will continue to say that Gleb is one of the best people I knew,” a former MSLU student told DOXA, “he wanted to live in Belarus and dreamed of making it a prosperous, strong and free country. Gleb is not a criminal and never has been. If anyone is to blame for the strikes and protests, it is only the authorities who brought their people to this point. Protests and strikes occurred due to widespread anger and indignation. But there is no way to organize this.” Even the dean of the Faculty of Translation Studies at Moscow State Linguistic University, Alexander Ponimatko, called Fitzner “a good student with organizational skills.”

A former student calls the “Student Case” a show trial of twenty-year-olds, which is needed to intimidate the remaining people - after all, expulsions and arrests failed to do this. “Gleb always said that he believed in people, students, in all of us. I also want to believe that he has not lost this faith after seven months in pre-trial detention. But I myself feel like we betrayed him and everyone else.”

What did the witnesses say at the trial?

The witnesses from MSLU at the trial were teachers, deans of faculties, the former rector of the university and a security guard. None of them confirmed the information about the disruption of classes, and they spoke only positively about Gleb Fitzner, saying that he could not coordinate the actions. The former rector of the university, Natalya Baranova, said that it was not the students who were to blame for the protests; Dean of the Faculty of Romance Languages ​​at Moscow State Linguistic University Valentin Pavlovsky said that his students were not at the protest: “We went out and explained that it was forbidden. The police came on September 4. The guys had to disperse as usual. When I went down to the students, I saw how they were being detained. I tried to stand up for my fifth-year students. I was alarmed by the appearance of the police and the arrests.” “We believed that our students were there, that we should fight for them, and not against them. We had to talk to them. What happened on September 1 was not just an action of our students, it was something more citywide,” says former rector of MSLU Natalya Baranova.

The last word:

Gleb Fitzner refused the last word, admitting guilt. He received 2 years in prison - this is exactly the term the prosecution asked him to sentence.

Belarusian State Medical University (BSMU)

Student political prisoners: 2

Students expelled: 26

Teachers fired: 5

How did the actions go?

According to an expelled student of BSMU, who is in forced emigration, his university has never been politically active: neither telegram channels nor the students themselves actively called for strikes in order not to miss classes in medical specialties: “The actions took place during extracurricular hours, and During school hours, we gathered only once - on October 26, when Svetlana Tikhanovskaya called for a strike.” At that time, the university’s telegram channels “were not so much curators and organizers as platforms for expressing public opinion.”

On October 26, the day of the national strike, the largest action took place, after which several students, including him, were expelled: “For several days, students went out to protest against expulsions, but riot police came and dispersed everyone. After that, there were almost no actions at the university. But the protests were stopped not because of the riot police; it was just that after October 26, the impression remained that everything had been destroyed. It has become too dangerous to do anything at the university.”

Political Prisoner - Alana Gebremariam

A graduate of the Belarusian State Medical University with a degree in Dentistry, Alana Gebremariam is 24 years old. In 2020, she was Svetlana Tikhanovskaya's representative on youth and student affairs. Also, Alana, being a coordinator of ZBS projects and an activist of the Youth Bloc, was a member of the main composition of the Coordination Council of the Belarusian Opposition.

According to a former BSMU student, Alana had nothing to do with organizing protests at the university or running the university’s telegram channel, but this did not stop the court from depriving the student of her freedom.

What did the witnesses say at the trial?

In their testimony, BSMU employees were sharply negative against the students who participated in the protests. In their opinion, the actions not only interfered with the educational process, but also significantly affected the image of the university, especially in the eyes of foreign students. “The image factor is suffering. I would wonder if my child were to go there, whether it would be safe for him there,” said Viktor Baran, vice-rector of BSMU for administrative and economic work.

The last word:

“The law must apply to everyone, and if it works for one person, then this is already arbitrariness. I consider the evidence voiced in the debate to be insufficient, biased, and the requested term is disproportionate to the crime charged and the personality of the accused.”

Belarusian State Pedagogical University (BSPU)

Student political prisoners: 2

Students expelled: no data

Teachers fired: 1 *according to media publications

How did the actions go?

A BSPU student told DOXA that the majority of students at his university are residents of small towns, so there has never been any protest activity at the university. The situation changed after the dismissal of teacher Nikolai Strekha due to his participation in the protests. More than 50 students came out to protest near the university against this decision of the administration. The university management attended all the demonstrations that were announced in telegram channels, and the dean’s office regularly held preventive conversations with students and reprimanded them.

“ According to rumors, almost the entire administration considers them guilty; they are very unhappy that someone is defending them. Students stand in solidarity with those involved in the case, this can be heard within the walls of the university, in group conversations and in personal conversations. Everyone understands that the case is fabricated, and that it is a nightmare to be in prison at 20 years old when you just wanted a better future for your country,” a BSPU student told DOXA.

Political prisoners - Kasia Budko and Yana Orobeyko

On November 12, a search took place in the apartment where BSPU student Kasya Budko lives with her grandmother, after which the girl was taken to the KGB pre-trial detention center. Another student, Yana Orobeyko, was taken to a pre-trial detention center from her university dormitory room, where they were also searched and their phones were confiscated.

At the university, the students were in their third year of the Faculty of Aesthetic Education. Their classmate believes that the case for the female students could end with three years of chemo, but if there is not enough support and publicity, the outcome could be worse. “If we really want a good future for Belarus, we don’t need to be separated, we need to be together,” he says.

What did the witnesses say at the trial?

Several witnesses from BSPU were questioned in court, many of them spoke about the negative impact of protest actions on the image of the university. In their opinion, the reputation of the university was spoiled by photographs published in the media and criminal cases against students. “[Female students] could directly cause damage, but foreigners study here. Parents of first-year students also called, they are generally minors,” complained Svetlana Kopteva, first vice-rector and associate professor of BSPU.

The last word

Kasia Budko: “I want to thank each of those present in the hall now for all the positive qualities that each of us has. For all the good deeds we have ever done. All this will definitely result in something big and very good. The main thing is to make your choice <…> Thank you.”

Yana Orobeyko: “In 8 months I met many different people with different points, ideals, with different meanings. And these 8 months of security measures could not convince me that fear destroys trust and everything without which a healthy society cannot exist and function. Therefore, and for a hundred other reasons, my last word will be freedom.”

Belarusian National Technical University (BNTU)

Student political prisoners: 3

Students expelled: 75

Teachers fired: 6

How did the actions go?

“Guerrilla protest” became popular at the university: students put stickers on the walls, printed leaflets, and dressed in white and red. “When students of my university were sitting on Akrestsin Street, we organized another partisan action in their support - we wrote a lot of wishes on postcards,” says the student. “I have not seen such unity of faculties in all 4 years of study.”

At first, the university administration stated that it was not going to expel students for political reasons, but everything changed after statements by Alexander Lukashenko; BNTU became one of the leaders in the number of deductions. The most massive action within the walls of BNTU was the gathering of about a hundred students near the rector’s office during the mass expulsion of students: “Although this was a sad event, the atmosphere was not sad at all. I saw how many, leaving the rector’s office with documents of expulsion, rejoice and laugh.”

Political prisoners - Victoria Grankovskaya and Anastasia Bulybenko

Before being expelled from BNTU, 20-year-old Anastasia Bulybenko was the head of the group. She was first detained at the Women's March, but she still continued to defend the rights of students and went to a rally on October 17, after which she was arrested for 10 days.

Another BNTU student, Victoria Grankovskaya, is involved in a student case. Before the wave of October expulsions, she studied at the Faculty of Architecture and during the first wave of coronavirus, she sought the introduction of distance learning at the university. On the first day she was detained. “Vika collected signatures for a petition against violence by security forces and for Lukashenko’s resignation. Later we learned that the administration called riot police on her. They said that she allegedly wanted to disrupt the line for freshmen, although Vika collected signatures not even on the territory of our university,” says the BNTU student.

What did the witnesses say at the trial?

In court, most witnesses did not confirm the disruption of classes during protests and strikes. At the same time, everyone described the defendants in the case only positively. However, the first vice-rector of BNTU, Georgy Vershina, said that classes were disrupted, and student actions were “ accompanied by provocations ” . "Grankovskaya. Good student. It's her choice. I carried out a very unreasonable action on September 1st. It seemed to me that she made the right conclusions, but, unfortunately, no. It’s a pity, of course,” said the first vice-rector of BNTU Georgy Vershina.

The last word:

Victoria Grankovskaya: “I did not admit guilt <...>, I am not going to admit to something that I did not do. I appeal to the High Court: I ask you to make a fair decision for all of us.”

Anastasia Bulybenko: “I’m not a criminal. I am 19 years old, I am far from politics, but there are things for which age does not matter. I didn’t come out against the authorities, I came out against violence, humiliation, lawlessness and lies, because it’s impossible to force me to look and not see.”

Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics (BSUIR)

Student political prisoners: 2

Students expelled: 19

Teachers fired: 5

How did the actions go?

The first protests near the university began back in August: students went out onto the street adjacent to the university building and waved to cars passing by. On September 1, BSUIR students took part in the “student march” and then decided to hold actions at the university, where they were joined at different times by from 20 to 300 people. “At first there were “singing gatherings”, we stood around the spiral staircase, sang, chanted, played the guitar. Then we organized a seated format on the steps of another building,” says a former BSUIR student. After this, cameras were installed in the building, the data from which is directly sent to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and to which, according to the former student, even the university administration does not have access.

University representatives tried to counteract the protests from the very beginning: “The first to get involved in this work was the vice-rector for educational work, a former KGB officer, who tries to be kind and tells students “we are in the same boat.” There were cases when the vice-rector for educational work called students to him and asked them to denounce others, giving them a choice: either he would write down all the names, or he would receive a reprimand. He also came to the students at the police department and asked them to give up the names of other participants in exchange for help with their release.”

After October 26, the protests at the university began to decline: “We were waiting for factory workers, teachers, and doctors to join the strike. However, we didn’t have the mass appeal that we had hoped for and we had to fold.” Despite this, student solidarity at the university has not disappeared, but only intensified: “Students are not indifferent to the fate of their colleagues, friends with whom they sat at the same desk and whom they now have to look through the bars in the courtroom,” says a former student .

Political prisoner - Olga Filatchenkova

Olga Filatchenkova worked as an assistant at the Department of Information Technology Software and taught at BSUIR. She starred in a video message from university teachers against violence by security forces and took part in the strike.

Olga is the mother of two children: a 7-year-old girl and an 18-year-old boy, who studies at the same university where she works. According to the prosecutor, Olga Filatchenkova “using the authority of the teacher, posted calls for participation in the riots,” and also “performed coordination functions during the events.”

What do witnesses say at trial?

According to witnesses, the entrance to the educational building and the stairs were blocked during the protests due to the large number of participants. Some university employees were confused in the testimony. For example, a representative of the security department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs at BSUIR, Artem Porutenko, said that each time there were from 30 to 50 people at the protests who “completely blocked the passage.” The defense then clarified that the steps were 50 meters wide and asked: “How could 30 to 50 [participants] block the entire passage?” To this Porutenko replied: “That means there was more.” “They gathered to sing songs. It was the day of the Belarusian language. We invited them to sing songs in Belarusian. They gathered and sang. In general, students are manageable, if we speak humanly,” said Leonid Shilin, dean of the Faculty of Information Technologies and Management of BSUIR.

The last word:

“Current students are the future of our country. I see great potential in them: smart, brave, honest, caring young people interested in making life in Belarus happy and free. The current situation forces the brightest people to decide to leave Belarus temporarily or forever. Existence here becomes dangerous for them only because they are not afraid to speak their minds.”

Belarusian State University (BSU)

Student political prisoners: 6

Students expelled: 12

Teachers fired: 17

How did the actions go?

According to a BSU student, participants in the protests were regularly reprimanded and summoned to the dean’s office for discussions. At the same time, there were no security forces in the university building until October 26: “Then there was an absolute mess in the courtyard between the Faculty of Law, the Faculty of Journalism and the main building. It was incredibly scary, these shots still make me feel anxious. It seems that this is not about us, although there were a lot of people there, my friends.”

Gradually, fewer and fewer people began to come to the protests at BSU; the university student names the main reason for this as “Black Thursday,” on which those accused in the “student case” were detained. “Everyone understood that this was the end, that it would only get worse, that an administrative charge was the lesser of two evils. It all ended because of fear, I can’t find any other explanation, because no one wants to go to jail on a criminal case, like the guys are now.” However, the protest took a different form. Students began to “guerrilla”: hang up posters, stickers, and disseminate information.

Political prisoners - Ilya Trakhtenberg, Ksenia Syromolot, Yegor Kanetsky, Tatyana Ekelchik

At BSU, four are accused in the “student case”: a member of the ZBS, a fifth-year student of the Faculty of Biology Egor Kanetsky, a second-year student of the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics Ilya Trakhtenberg, a volunteer of the human rights center “Vesna”, a press secretary of the ZBS and a fourth-year student of the Faculty of Philosophy Ksenia Syromolot and a student of the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics of BSU Tatyana Ekelchik. All of them are accused of participating in protests that “impeded the educational process and the normal functioning of universities.”

One of the university students believes that the case is unlikely to end positively: “the guys will receive the maximum sentence - this is indicated by the absence of any facts and direct evidence in the case, which means that everything is predetermined in advance.”

What do witnesses say at trial?

During the testimony of witnesses from the BSU, the defense stated that the prosecution witnesses talked to each other, since their testimony at the trial coincided. Also in the testimony of several of them there were exact wordings from the law. For example, in the testimony of the head of the department of educational work with youth, Ekaterina Zueva, there was a phrase from the provisions of the Criminal Code “committed actions that grossly violated public order.” However, according to the recollections of most university employees, classes were not disrupted. “Students can express their opinions in small group classes. On economics, political science,” said Fyodor Drobenya, former deputy dean for educational work at the Faculty of Journalism of BSU.

The last word:

Ilya Trakhtenberg: “No matter what awaits me, I will remain a free person, because I can think and make decisions independently. I wish the rest of those involved the best possible way out of the situation of which you have become hostages.”

Ksenia Syromolot: “If someday there are no doctors in the hospital who can provide proper assistance, if it turns out that the only teachers left in schools are those who mindlessly retell the textbook, if all talented IT workers choose foreign companies rather than Belarusian ones, if there are no capable analysts, architects, scientists left, no one should ask why this happened. The answer is in front of you. He is in everything related to this case.”

Yegor Kanetsky refused the last word. He, like the rest of the accused, received 2.5 years in a general regime colony.

Tatyana Ekelchik: “Very talented, smart young people are now sitting in the dock. They can become highly qualified specialists; the future of our country lies with us. Therefore, I ask the court not to deprive us of our freedom, but to give us the opportunity to continue receiving higher education.”

Belarusian State Academy of Arts (BSAI)

Student political prisoners: 2

Students expelled: 19

Teachers fired: 5

How did the actions go?

Classes for BGAI students begin at different times, so the protests at the university began in September, but the majority joined them only a month later. The girl recalls that most of the teachers were on the side of the students: “It happened that you were standing on the street or indoors, and your teachers ran past and shouted slogans in support or showed characteristic protest signs with their hands or simply cast a kind glance.”

At first, the university rector tried to build a dialogue with students, but after the strike on October 26, mass expulsions began. At the same time, a full-time police officer appeared in the main academic building, who is still on duty there: “Since our university is creative, the students decided not to just stand on the stairs for 30 minutes, but to draw our policeman. He got embarrassed and left, but he still managed to draw.”

Political prisoner – Maria Kalenik

At BGAI, 22-year-old student Maria Kalenik studied design. According to her sister, Maria devoted all her time to studying. In letters to relatives, she writes that she does not regret anything and remains true to her values. Like the rest of the defendants in the “students’ case,” she was detained on November 12 for “organizing or actively participating in group actions that grossly violate public order,” but what exactly she is accused of is still not clear.

A BGAI student says that at the university no one has forgotten about Masha: “Sometimes in classes with teachers we start talking about her. Everyone is outraged by the injustice happening to her.”

What did the witnesses say at the trial?

Three representatives of the university spoke at the trial on behalf of BGAI, including rector Mikhail Borozna. According to him, classes were held as usual, and he did not receive any complaints about difficulties in passing through the educational building. The first vice-rector of the BSAI, Svetlana Vinokurova, stated that during preventive conversations, the accused Maria Kalenik called and consulted with a lawyer, so it seemed to her that “someone else was giving her advice” and “she was receiving instructions.” “I want to tell you my observation. Young people for the most part gave in to the impulses of their elders. Therefore, I ask you to give them a chance,” said Anna Kononova, dean of the art department of the Belarusian State Academy of Art.

The last word:

Maria Kalenik: “My parents raised me as a person striving for honesty and justice. We decided to fight for our future and the future of others.”