Siarhei Bespalau: I walked 100 kilometers by foot

Moderator of "VKontakte" group, destroyed by special services, told a story about his escape from the KGB.

Siarhei Bespalau – student, he is studying to be an economist in Poland by Kalinouski program. He was engaged in the administration of the "We’ve had enough of this Lukashenka" in “Vkontakte”. He was spending the holidays at home in Minsk. During the mass arrests of moderators of opposition groups, Siarhei Bespalau escaped from the KGB officials, literally jumping out of the window of his apartment when he was giving an interview to charter97.org.

Until this day the man was unavailable. Now, he contacted the website charter97.org and told about his escape from Minsk to Warsaw.

“On August 30 in the afternoon I was called by my friend and told that the Internet is full of messages that I was arrested, and our group, "We’ve had enough of this Lukashenka" was hacked and destroyed. I thought it was a joke, but when I went online, I realized that this was serious. After a few minutes, I was called by my grandmother (I am registered in her apartment), and told that some suspect people came to her who were looking for me. I was ready, to be caught, so I went to the social network "VKontakte", wrote to my friends my login and password from my account in the social network, so they changed the password and I would not have been able to give it", - says Siarhei Bespalau.

"Then I started to collect things. After a while, the doorbell rang. Mom looked in the eye and said that there are some strange people. I was just giving an interview to charter97.org. That moment I realized that I have to run and jumped out of the apartment through a window - fortunately, I live on the first floor. By some miracle, I broke away from the chase and met with my friends. They gave me a new phone and a SIM card and put on a train to Vitebsk, where I spent the night with another friend of mine. The next day I sat down on a train to Smolensk, because one don’t need a passport to buy a ticket", - recalls the moderator.

"From Smolensk I went to Pskov, but I went out on a few stops earlier, just in case. While I was catching a ride to the border of Russia and Latvia, I walked 50 kilometers. I have crossed the border on foot on  September 2 at 10 am. Then I walked another 50 kilometers - 100 kilometers of walking total. Then I was picked up a wonderful trucker from Ukraine, who drove me through the whole Latvia, and almost all Lithuania. And then he contacted with his colleagues, who took me to a small town in Poland, it was somewhere at 21:40. Next bus from there to Warsaw was at 3:35 am. I waited for the bus, sat down in it and fell asleep. At 8:30 I arrived to Warsaw, where I contacted you", - finished his story the web activist.

"Now I need to rest and recover. I will learn and continue to manage the group. Also, I'm not going to hide - I'll come to Belarus. Of course, not directly, but through Russia, but it's better than nothing", - shared his plans Siarhei Bespalau.

Recall, on August 30, four moderators of protest communities in the social network "VKontakte" were detained by security forces. Security officers confiscated their computers and gained access to the management of the " We’ve had enough of this Lukashenka "group with 37,000 participants and "Only ShOS!" With more than 15,000 subscribers. They’ve deleted the groups, but on September 3 technical support of the social network restored the destroyed communities.

After the arrest and questioning of Andrei Tkacheu, he was sentenced to 7 days for "disorderly conduct", Pavel Eutsiahieu - to 5 days, Aleg Shramuk was released late at night after questioning, minor Raman Pratasiewicz was beaten and later released.