Patriot Ales Ziamnitski: Belarus Is My Only Love

How are the persons involved in the "patriots’ case" doing?

Belaruspartisan.org decided to find out what has been happening to the figurants of the "patriots’ case" "at large"? Their freedom is a relative category: all the defendants are under a written undertaking not to leave the country and under a subscription of non-disclosure.

– Everything is ok with work: I returned to the old place. I work as a senior researcher at the National Historical Museum, however, my duties have changed a little, but these are purely work-related issues. I'm at the same place, in the same position and doing the same work – I’m the keeper of the collection of armor and military equipment," – Ales Zimnitsky, a historian and a figurant of the "patriots' case," says.

– And what about the wasted months that you spent in detention?

– Under the law, during the investigation, no one has the right to dismiss from work, in any case – until the court decision. Therefore, the months spent behind bars resulted in "unpaid leave".

– And did your imprisonment affect your family?

– Both the mother and father are already retired, it was, of course, for them. It was harder to my parents, than for me.

– After the conditional "release," haven’t you thought about getting married?

– I haven’t, so far. My only love is Belarus.

– Your fellows in misery say that it was much more difficult psychologically than physically behind the bars.

– Prison did not break my psyche, it did not cause any psychological trauma either, as far as I can tell. My plans in life also did not change much during the three months – still those weren't years behind bars. There were three things, which saved me: the realization that you are not alone and people remember you (for this I must say thanks to people), knowing that you are not the first and not the last (so many Belarusians have already served the term in prison for the love of the motherland, or even just for no reason), and the desire to remain human. It's not difficult to sit behind bars. There are real people everywhere. I just looked for what to do regarding the everyday routine: I read books, I trained. And psychological difficulties are related to how my family felt, their emotions, attempts to provide some kind of help. It really was hard. As they say: "The terms are given not to the accused, but to their families."

– How did the detention affect your health?

– I can't say that some critical problems have appeared. But the old traditional prison problems affected me as well: the joints ache a bit, the back too – a little bit of everything.

When you get behind bars, it turns out that everything is not as scary as it seems on this side of the wall. But if it happened that way, you must survive.

We remind, that in September the Investigative Committee extended the investigation on the "case of patriots" for two months. Periodically, the persons involved in the criminal case are summoned for interrogation, but there is no "breakthrough" in the criminal case.