Andrei Makouski

I’m 61 years old, a professor, and a military aviator. My ancestors come from a small Belarusian town, but I received my education in Kyiv and spent many years living in Siberia. In recent years, I taught at a university in Minsk, where I trained Belarusian IT specialists. At the end of my lectures, I used to share five-minute stories about the history of Belarus. It wasn’t a state narrative, but actual history. At some point, two men from the security service came to me to “clarify certain circumstances.” They confiscated my smartphone and found a message I had sent to a friend. It contained a link to an article stating that American scientists had transplanted modified pig organs into a human body. However, the article was published in an independent media outlet recognized by Belarusian authorities as “extremist.” For sharing a link to an extremist resource, I was sent to a 15-day detention center, where I celebrated New Year’s Eve in a four-person cell with 18 other detainees.

How did we all fit in there? There were four beds in an 11.5-12 square meter cell. There were no mattresses, just steel strips on the bed arranged chaotically. It was difficult to lie on this contraption for more than 5-7 minutes; the strips dug into the body. Four people were sleeping on benches and tables, and the rest on the floor. It was impossible to get up at night (if nature called) because the floor was full of people. A detention center is a place, where one can effectively lose extra kilograms of weight. I lost seven in two weeks.

There were decent people. Usually, you can find rather “antisocial” characters there, like homeless people, petty thieves, and alcoholics, but none of them were in our cell. All people were so-called “control subjects”- the term used by prison guards for political prisoners. Mattresses, blankets, pillows, and bedding were considered harmful luxuries for the “control subjects.” The toilet (a hole in the floor) also served as a shower. To wash ourselves, we used two 1.5-liter plastic bottles with warm tap water. The soap was provided very sparingly. We were given only 50 grams per day (for the whole cell).

Have you ever tried not brushing your teeth for a couple of days? We didn’t have such an opportunity for two weeks. There was no change of clothes or underwear either.

After being released, I was fired from my job due to “an absence for more than 10 days without a valid reason.” Moreover, I was told by the immigration department that I would be deprived of my Belarusian residence permit for 10 years (I am a Russian citizen). So, by evening, I had to show a ticket proving that I was leaving Belarus.

My mother is still waiting for me in Belarus.

Makouski arrived in Poland in 2022.