"We made a New Year tree of a plastic bottle, and decorations of napkins"
Uladz Yaromenak will celebrate the New Year in the Akrestsina street detention center for the second year in a row.
"Uladz is a very cheerful and active person, he has always been the center of any company. He takes his guitar with him everywhere, he's got a wonderfully set voice, so no friends' meetings has ever been held without him, - "Young Front" Vice-Chairperson Nasta Palazhanka says about Yaromenak.
Uladz Yaromenak moved to Minsk in 2009, he was born in Miory. He planned to enter the Belarusian National Technical University and to struggle against the regime at the same time. At first, he was lucky in both - there was liberalization in the country. Therefore, Yaromenak was arrested for the first time only after the presidential election.
The first administrative detention was prolonged - it started in December 2010 and ended only in August. When the term of his imprisonment in the Akrestsina street detention center was over, he was taken to the KGB prison and accused of mass disturbances.
His former cell-mate Barys Haretski has told Euroradio that Yaromenak spends the time between interrogations, which happen very often in the Akrestsina street detention center, reading. However, it is difficult to read there because of darkness.
It is also difficult to celebrate holidays in the detention center. This is the second time in a row when Uladz will meet the New Year in the Akrestsina street detention center, after his detention on December 19. The administration has holiday mood very rarely, but the detainees do not give up.
"For instance, last year many people who were detained at that time told that they managed to make New Year decorations of toilet paper and hanged them in the cells. They also exchange postcards".
Others were luckier. A frequent Akrestsina visitor Zmitser Khvedaruk, who met the year 2011 in the cell, says that it is possible to arrange a New Year tree in prison, with some efforts, of course.
"We celebrated the holiday in a horrible cold. The windows in our cell were damaged, it was cold. We decorated the cell with red-white-red garlands, which we made of napkins that our allies passed us before. We also made a New Year tree of a plastic bottle and green napkins".
According to Euroradio's information, the guards in the Akrestsina street detention center are so strict that they did not allow the prisoners to watch the state leader's New Year address to the citizens, despite collective requests. Also, the food on the New Year does not differ from the one on any other day.
"There was a fish cutlet with carrots, and some rice. And tea with a piece of white bread. They had a sort of a festive menu on December 25, on Christmas. They gave us a bigger portion of potatoes and a bigger cutlet then".
As for the notorious KGB prison, the New Year food is not limited there, as food parcels are allowed. So, it is better to celebrate the New Year in the KGB prison, if you have choice. However, it is more complicated to get out of there.
