Activist of the BNF party Vladimir Pryadkin from Rechytsa was convicted over online publications that were deemed to contain “rehabilitation of Nazism.” After his release, the man was forced to emigrate and start life from scratch. He is asking for help in order to survive in the new conditions.
Vladimir was born and lived in Rechytsa, worked all his life as a carpenter, and was engaged in entrepreneurial activity. “Throughout my life, as people usually say, I have had a firm civic stance,” he notes. “For many years, I participated in the national democratic movement.” In 1991, the Belarusian became a member of the BNF party and for decades remained its activist, being in the field of view of the KGB as an “opposition-minded citizen.”
In the 2010s, the Belarusian acted in feature and historical films—his interest in the history of World War II played a role. “I read a great deal of military memoirs, including German ones, and shared my research on social media,” the former political prisoner notes. “I thought that this way it would be possible to better understand the logic of criminal regimes.”
After the events of 2020, the authorities began to massively search for “extremist” publications, including retroactively, and in 2021 officers of the Homel anti-extremism unit detained Vladimir near his home.
“There was a search with witnesses, they seized my phone and laptop,” the man recalls. “Then three days in a temporary detention centre, after which I was released under a travel restriction.”
Law enforcers found on Vladimir’s social media page a photo in which he was depicted wearing a German officer’s uniform (the photo had been taken during the filming of a feature film), as well as links to the memoirs of a Wehrmacht general, which the investigation presented as “rehabilitation of Nazism.”
On 9 December 2021, the activist was detained again, and half a year later, while in a remand centre, Vladimir was sentenced to three years in a correctional facility under Article 130 of the Criminal Code (“incitement of social hostility”).
According to the activist, he did not expect that memoirs and an old photo on social media could result in three years in a correctional facility. “But at that moment they needed show trials for ‘rehabilitation of Nazism,’ and I fell under that campaign,” he explains.
Detention in Bobruisk IK-2 was harsh. “Over the entire period, I spent a total of about one hundred days in a punishment cell: 10–20 days at a time,” the Belarusian recalls. “I was placed on a register as ‘prone to extremism,’ which meant constant pressure and restrictions.”
On 17 January 2025, Vladimir was released, having fully served his prison term. Like all “politicals,” he was placed under preventive supervision. In freedom, the man faced a complete impossibility of finding a job in Belarus. For several months, he tried to understand whether a normal life was possible with the status of an “extremist,” but came to the conclusion that there were no prospects.
“I realized that things would only get worse. There is no work, there is supervision, and at any moment the situation can end with a new term,” he says.
At first, the former political prisoner went to Georgia to restore his health undermined in imprisonment, then moved to Poland on a humanitarian visa. He is currently awaiting international protection but does not have the right to work. There is no stable income, and financial support is needed “as of yesterday”: to pay for housing, buy food, and purchase basic necessities.
“I have never been afraid of physical labor; I want to work as a carpenter or in construction,” Vladimir emphasizes. “I understand that my case is very typical. I am not afraid to start life over at 58, but right now I need financial support to survive while the decision on protection is being made.”
Fundraising goal
€2000
€800 – rent
€400 – food and hygiene items
€500 – medical expenses
€300 – clothing and basic necessities