Taking part in peaceful protests cost Ivan, a football fan and athlete, three and a half years in one of the harshest correctional facilities in Belarus. He managed to leave the country after his release and is asking for support to cover his first few months in exile.
In February 2021, during a performance by the band RSP in the Smaliavichy District, all the attendees at a concert organised at a recreation centre were detained following someone’s denunciation. Ivan Kotov was among those detained. He received 15 days of administrative detention for taking part in an “unauthorised event.”
This was one of four times he had been detained for administrative offences since the protests began in 2020. These cases were subsequently used as the basis for criminal proceedings against Ivan, and he was put on the wanted list. After an unsuccessful attempt to leave the country, he was arrested and sentenced to three and a half years in a correctional facility.
Before this political persecution, Ivan was a football fan, played sports himself and managed social media for a football club. He was fired from the club because of his participation in peaceful protests.
Ivan served his sentence at Penal Colony No. 1 in Navapolatsk, a facility notorious for psychological torture and pressure on political prisoners.
“At first, I tried to resist. I didn’t immediately understand that a political charge was a kind of ‘black mark’. When I openly protested against yet another injustice by the administration, one of the staff members said: ‘This outcast made his choice back in 2020.’ This was immediately followed by a day in the punishment cell, the loss of parcels, visits and everything else.”
During his imprisonment, Ivan was added to the list of terrorists, so even after his release, he couldn’t open a bank account, get a job or do anything else.
“I was forced to leave the country to have some hope of rebuilding my life. I’ve only been in Poland for a few months, and I still have little understanding of how things work here. Prison flashbacks haunt me, and it’s hard to believe that I’m free to make my own decisions and choices. Dealing with legalisation in a foreign country, in a foreign language, and looking for work and housing have turned out to be harder than I imagined.”
Ivan needs help now so that he can rent a place to live, get back on his feet in a foreign country and adapt to life in freedom.
“Formally, I’m already free, but in reality, everything is starting over: housing, work, health and everything else. That’s why I’m asking for help. Thank you to everyone who is involved! All the best!”
Fundraising goal
€2000
€2000 – rent for three months, plus a security deposit