#Belarus. 10 students, one alumni, one tutor were sentenced to prison terms (most to 2.5 years each) for ostensible "organized crime" and "organizing mass riots".
Most of them are in jails since Autumn 2020.
source RFERL
Student of Belarus Academy of Arts Maria Kalenik got 2.5 years in prison.
In her last word she talked about her love to Belarus and the future of the country.
Phylosophy student Ksenia Syramalot got 2.5 years in prison.
Ksenia told, "If you, the High Court, and the entire Republic of Belarus which you represent consider that it is criminal to follow the Constitution, it is criminal to be a human being, then I will accept any verdict."
Pedagogical University student Kasia Budzko got 2.5 years in prison.
Kasia undersored that she loved Belarus despite spending 8 month in jail before the trial. She thanked family and friends. She told she was sure that solidarity of Belorussians would come to effect.
Biology student Yahor Kanetski got 2.5 years in prison.
Linguistics student Gleb Fitsner was the only one who pleaded guilty in preposterous "organized crime" and "organizing mass riot" charges.
Lukashenka regime thanked Gleb for his cooperation with 2 years in prison.
Former high-achieving Mathematics student - he was expelled from Belarus State University for his activism - Ilya Trachtenberg has got 2.5 years in prison.
"I will remain a free person, because I am capable of thinking and making decisions independently", told Ilya.
Architecture student Victoria Granouskaya got 2.5 years in prison.
"I was afraid and worried about my own and other people's lives. My grandmother has taught that domestic violence cannot be tolerated…Belarusians are one big family. I did not and I will not tolerate violence"
Technical Univ student Anastasiya Bulybenko has got 2.5 years in prison.
"I know I did everything right. I feel pain, but have no fear anymore. I came out not against the authorities, but against violence. We are the future generation of tolerance and freedom. We are the future"
When Anastasiya Bulybenko was arrested in November 2020, Lukashenka thugs have marked her with red paint.
Pedagogical University student Yana Arabeika has got 2.5 years in prison.
"Time behind bars has not convinced that fear is better than trust. My last word will be 'Freedom'."
Tutor at University of Informatics and Radio Electronics Volha Filatchankava got 2.5 years in prison.
In her last word Volha told that she was sorry that because of Lukashenka and his minions, many Belarusians were forced to leave the country. That would change soon, she hoped.
Dentistry alumni Alana Gebremariam has got 2.5 years in prison.
"I am proud to be a Belarusian", Alana told in her last word.
Mathematics student Tatsiana Yakelchik has got 2.5 years in prison.
In her last word she told that the future belonged to students.
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“I took a decision to die here, on my home soil, without someone else’s blood on my hands.”
Russian conscript soldier Sergei Gridin, 20, has hanged himself on a belt after learning about upcoming deployed to Ukraine.
Translation of a suicidal note. Full text. Thread. 1/5
"If you read this, that means I am not alive anymore. Yesterday they have included me in rotation for Ukraine. No one from our company has returned from there yet…"
2/5
"I was naive enough to file an application to our platoon commander to stay at the place of our current deployment, and now he and the sergeant, they constantly pursue me with abuses."
3/5
Opinion. After the sudden death of long-term Foreign Affairs Minister Makei the events in Belarus might speed up dramatically. First of all, Ukraine should brace for threats from the north.
Just to give you an idea how important Makei was - he was the only top-tier minister who survived post-2020 purge of Lukashenka apparatchiks.
(Prime Minister, Minister of Defense, Minister of Interior, Prosecutor General - they all gone).
For decades Lukashenka performed a bizarre play pretending that he tried to maintain balance between the EU and Russia in foreign affairs. Makei was the crucial piece of this puzzle.
Photo: Makei and EU Ambassador Wictorin, wearing shirts with Belarusian vyshyvankas, 2017.
🧵
Day-to-day life in Izyum during 6 months of Russian occupation.
Source: @TarasBerezovets. Based on the conversations with locals hours after liberation.
50 families have sent their kids to summer school camps in Russia (Russians were pressing for many more, but people were reluctant). Now, after the town was recaptured by Ukraine, children’s whereabouts are unknown. It is impossible to contact them.
Russians were paying money (approx USD 160) per month if people agreed to send their children to schools.
Russians brought the teachers from Russia and then left them behind. Now those teachers are in custody of Ukrainian authorities
"Many Russians, even some dissidents (not all of them, but even some dissidents) are not considering enough, in my view, that the Russian people should feel a kind of guilt for what their government is doing, even if they are not directly responsible for the crimes."
"They were saying, 'We are very concerned. That is very unfortunate.' But they are not very conscious about the very significance of the war crimes committed in their name."
A body of Yuri Voronov, 61, was found floating in the pool of his mansion in the suburbs of St Petersburg with bullet in his head.
Mr Voronov ran transport company which had contracts with Gazprom.
Former top manager of Lukoil Alexander Subbotin, 43, was found dead in Mytishchi, a city just northeast of Moscow on May 9 reportedly after being treated with toad venom to cure a hangover
Sergei Protosenya, 55, former deputy head of Russian gas giant Novatek, was found hanged in Spain on April 21.
Transcript of intercepted conversation of a Russian occupier (S) and his mom (M).
He tries to explain her what he sees with his own eyes, but she is filled with Russian preposterous propaganda and hardly accepts any logical arguments.
S: What the heck we are doing in Ukraine? OK, what if we took it, what next?
M: We took what?
S: Ukraine. What would have changed?
M: Wait. They have nukes.
S: OK. So if they shoot us, they would be leveled too. There is no sense in it.
M: I see. You are so politically shortsighted there. I wish I’d come there and explain.
S: Well, yes. That the case. You are such a political.
M: You are defending your people, your country. How you don’t know what you are doing there?