Andrei Komlik-Yamatsin: Colleagues Said They Did Not Believe Any TV-Movies

The patriot told how the solidarity of belarusians helped him as he came through all the difficulties.

Patriot Andrei Komlik-Yamatsin was detained in the evening on March 21 near the entrance to his house, when he was returning from his parents’ place. He spent 101 days behind the bars, Radio Liberty reports:

I had a critical attitude to the authorities before. And now ... There was some kind of malignancy. Against the investigative bodies. For what they did to me and my family. It was quite a serious life school. I do not know whether it was a good lesson or not. But all this is experience. If it doesn’t kill you, it only makes you stronger.

I work at the motor plant, which is located in Vaupshasau Street, as a heat treatment operator, like before. I am also engaged in crafts a little bit, we produce clothes of different styles. In this regard, nothing has changed. The only thing now, there are difficulties associated with the fact that they still have not returned the computer. In it, I had the information necessary for working with clothes. But now they will, I hope.

At the plant, they treated me humanly. Nobody offered to resign. I've been working there for 10 years, everybody knows me for a long time. People are normal there, ordinary guys. They supported me. They said that they did not believe in all these films.

Honestly, I could not imagine that these things would happen to me. That there will be a criminal case, a detention, all this. I have not participated in opposition actions since 2006, I do not do anything like that. The only thing I do is develop the Belarusian traditional culture. That means, I chose a different path of activity, development, influence on the national views in the country. I would not say that this is something radical.

The relations with family and friends have changed. There are things that I've reviewed. Before, I did not understand something important, and these events made it possible to understand. I used to have more conflicts with my relatives. Everything had to be the way I said. Now I have become more democratic about family life. It seems to me so, at least. Prison made me more democratic.

Many new friends have appeared in the family. As for the old ones – some became the nearest, some moved aside. There were people whom I considered to be pretty close, and they did not really like the whole situation. Probably they were afraid of something.

Leaving? I have not thought about it yet. I had the opportunity to leave Belarus before. But I decided to live here, to develop my business here. Of course I have fear for myself and my family. But fear is such a thing to be overcome. Accept, overcome, get rid of it and always hope for the best. I do not think that the situation with my arrest will repeat. Even if new protests begin, new figures will be needed. I hope that the bomb does not fall into one funnel twice. Perhaps, there will be a tick in front of my surname somewhere. Still, I hope that they will leave me alone.

"The case of patriots" was initiated on the eve of Freedom Day in March.

On March 21, Lukashenka stated that "dozens of militants" who "trained in armed camps" in Belarus and abroad and prepared provocations were arrested. Detentions began.

As a result, there were 35 people involved in the "case of patriots." Of them, 20 were also accused of being engaged in "illegal armed formation."

Acting and former officers of the border troops, the Armed Forces, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Internal Troops were among the detainees. In the past, some of them were activists of the unregistered sports and patriotic club White Legion (it ceased its activities 15 years ago) and the official club Patriot for teenagers in Babruisk. Several more people – activists of the Young Front and the Belarusian Social Democratic party (People’s Assembly)

State television channels showed footage of searches and "seizure of weapons."

It was clarified that the case began with a letter from a certain "Frau A." addressed to Lukashenka: a German citizen with Belarusian roots reported on the preparations for "provocations" to take place in Minsk on March 25.

In the propagandistic movies and reports by the Belarusian Television, leader of the Belarusian National Congress Mikalai Statkevich, leaders of the “European Belarus” civil campaign Andrei Sannikov and Dzmitry Bandarenka, and Editor-in-Chief of the website Charter97.org Natallia Radzina were listed as “the main organizers”.

Although the case was resonant, it received few official comments.

In June, the patriots were gradually released from the remand prison under non-leave and non-disclosure obligations. From some, all allegations were lifted. However, the investigation continued.