Alena Lіhavіd: I did not allow myself to cry behind bars

Euroradio: What did you feel when you were released?

Lihavid: “It was my first experience and I hope that it was the last one too. I felt that I had grown stronger. I understood what our relatives, children and husbands had experienced and I understood what humiliation that had to go through…

Humiliation is their hobby. They are always trying to insult. The whole atmosphere is aimed at humiliation. They did not understand that the things they do, the atmosphere and their attitude to us only harden people. Now I have a metal rod inside me and it can’t be broken by anything. I did not allow myself to cry and kept telling myself that Mikita had gone through it all and it meant that I could also do it with dignity.

It is a shame to see laws being violated before your very eyes. All the norms are being violated. It is a shame that you cannot change anything when you are there, you demand and they do not hear you. I clearly understood that I had to be released to continue struggling together with my son and the rest”.

Euroradio:  You spent three out of ten days in the punishment cell? Why?

Lihavid: “All the norms were violated there. I was not informed why I had to be put in the one-man cell that had worse conditions. But they made me understand that I had been demanding too much. I demanded walks and ventilation of the cell according to the schedule and I demanded decent attitude from the administration and the guards”.

Euroradio: Have you learnt anything new about your son?

Lihavid: “I have no information other than the fact that Andrei Sannikau met him. I do not receive any letters from Mikita. Our lawyer has been disbarred… She is still working and she seems to be up to the mark”.

Euroradio: Will you lodge complaints about being “locked up” in Akretsina?

Lihavid: “I will. I have already sent a complaint to the court but I do not know if it is being considered. I am also going to meet my lawyer and lodge complaints about all the violations I have registered. I wish the conditions in the detention centre changed in some way… Participants of actions should not loose the feeling that there are human beings because the conditions there are inhuman”.
 

In the photo: Alena Lihavid is detained during the silent action in Minsk on July 20.

 

Photo — bymedia.net