"It Is Mutual Aid And Solidarity That The Regime Fears."

The former political prisoner told what helps to keep his strength in Lukashenko's prison.

Maksim Viniarski is the coordinator of the civil campaign "European Belarus". He has been opposing Lukashenka's dictatorship for more than 25 years and has been imprisoned and arrested more than once. In January 2021, Viniarski was detained by law enforcers. He was convicted along with other activists of "European Belarus" for "preparation for mass riots" for five years in a penal colony.

September 11, 2025 he was released and forcibly deported to Lithuania along with other former prisoners of conscience.

In an interview with Charter97.org, Maksim Viniarsky described what helped him maintain his strength and inner freedom in captivity:

- One must realize that none of us fights alone. There are always people around - those whom you have chosen yourself and those who happened to be around by the will of circumstances. The source of strength in captivity is the people around you.

Deprivation of freedom is not always complete isolation. Most of the time you are with other people. And it is important to look for support in their positive qualities, to support them, and not to fall into despondency. If someone has helped you, you should be ready to help yourself. It is necessary to spread optimism, not pessimism.

This is what the servants of the regime are most afraid of. In colonies they forbid prisoners even to share something among themselves - a candy or a chocolate bar. For this they could send them to the penitentiary. The regime is afraid of mutual help and solidarity between people.

So you should not wait for help - try to do something yourself. If you are already there, look around you: who and what you can help. Once you see this, others will do the same. It is like a snowball that cannot be stopped by any punishment.

The principles by which you should live to pass this way have long been known: "Don't believe, don't be afraid, don't ask".

Don't believe the jailers and their henchmen. Don't be afraid of threats. And ask nothing from those who have usurped power. By the way, this is what annoys the jailers the most. They want you to depend on them, constantly asking for something. And when a person ignores their "small handouts" and keeps calm, they lose power over him.

- Your "release" turned out to be a forced deportation. What did you feel when instead of returning to freedom you were taken out of your native country?

- On the one hand, it is an absolute negative. Another "bottom" when people are illegally stripped of their citizenship without even trying to cover themselves with the law.

-but at the same time I felt joy when I saw my friends: Evgeny Afnagel, Andrei Voynich, Dmitry Kozlov, Nikolai Statkevich, Hennady Fedynich, Vladimir Matskevich. We had been walking together for so many years, and at that moment I was just happy to see these people again.

Everyone involved in repression today must realize: the world is small and round. Everything will have to be answered for. Those who justify themselves with "orders" will not escape responsibility. And if not today, then after the fall of the regime, when power returns to the people, they will face the law. Then, at least, they will be treated fairly.

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