Solidarity money is missing

Petra, the girl that organized the biggest solidarity action in the history of Belarus “Present Freedom to a Political Prisoner”, disseminated an open letter in the internet. Almost $7500 was raised in order to bail out Dzianis Dzianisau. Mainly ordinary people would make contributions. However, there were several renowned personalities like Aliaksandr Fyaduta and even a reporter from the European Radio for Belarus. During the fundraising campaign, the organizers discussed various options of what to do with the collected money. Some wanted to set up a solidarity fund in order to bail out political prisoners. Others even proposed to use this method in order to free Andrei Klimov.

Dzianis Dzianisau, a youth activist from Vitsebsk, was freed from the preliminary detention facility on April 11. He was charged with organizing massive disorders and was facing three years in prison. However, the criminal case was closed on May 29, and the money was supposed to be returned soon. However, Petra wrote in her open letter that both Dzianis Dzianisau and the money went missing.

“I hope that this situation is not the end. Rather, this is an unpleasant semi-final”.

The bail money was raised within less than a month. Dzianis’s mother and Petra deposited the money in a bank. After Dzianis was acquitted, the money paid as a bail was supposed to be refunded.

“When we learned that the money would be refunded, I and Dzianis thought about sending it to an orphanage or to use it as a bail for other political prisoners. We decided that the money should be refunded to all the contributors, because it was a huge responsibility. Dzianis said that his mother was to transfer the money to his bank account and that he would keep withdrawing”.

Dzianis asked his mother to transfer the money to Minsk so that he could withdraw it himself. The former political prisoner told Petra in the evening that when he was on his way, he was attacked and robbed all the money. Raisa Aliakseyauna, Dzianis’s mother, told the European Radio for Belarus that Dzianis went to Poland to study.

“He asked me to wire the money to Minsk because he was worried about this amount of money. After he was robbed, I had to collect money so that he could travel to Warsaw to study. He’s never called me since then. He called his brother and told him that he was fine and studying in Poland”.

Earlier, Dzianis told Petra that he was going to study in Poland.

“He told me then that he wanted to go to Poland to study. My friends tell me that he is definitely there”.

It is noteworthy that Dzianis’s mother is trying to assure everyone that he did not waste the money that was eventually stolen.

“He didn’t live a posh way. I could see it. He bought nothing for himself”.

The European Radio for Belarus called Inna Kuley, the chairperson of the Solidarity, a committee to protect the victims of political persecution, to confirm whether Dzianisau indeed went to study in Poland under the Kalinouski Program.

She confirmed that he was doing his studies there since September 3.

“This young man was twice expelled from a university in Belarus. He qualified during all the selection tours in Poland. He went there on September 3. We have agreed with human rights groups to have a meeting next week and discuss the situation. We need to call Dzianis and talk to him about this issue and make a decision.

It turned out that Dzianis paid back to human rights organizations. “Having consulted with the Committee Board, we decided to help Dzianis. Other human rights activists joined this decision. 10 days after his release, Dzianis fully paid off what he owned us”.

Photo: Dzianis Dzianisau http://3dway.org/node/7650