My friends are in prison, they’ve been arrested and interrogated multiple times. I fled to Prague, it was obvious that I would not be free for long.
My name is Aliaksandr Parshankou, I am 23 years old. I escaped to Prague, miles away from my home and family. I am now a doctoral student at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic writing a dissertation about the first Belarusian book printer Francysk Skaryna. I am chairman of the Free Trade Union of Belarusian State University Students, Co-Chairman of the youth political party “YCD” and member of the Coordination Council of Belarus. I refuse to give up. Belarus will be free.
In my last year of my undergraduate studies (in 2020), the presidential “elections” created a new wave of protests against the dictator of Belarus. It was my civic duty to participate. Lukashenka and his regime had to go.
I was a student at the Belarusian State University. I couldn’t sit and watch the new wave of change. I know I had to do my bit, so I launched a student union free from state control – the Free Trade Union of BSU Students. I was elected its chairman, which I am still to this day – albeit now in exile.
During my studies I was the organiser of many protests at the faculty. I became a target of police crackdowns.
I only had to wait till October to get arrested. While participating in one of our regular Sunday protests, on October 18, 2020, I was arrested on one of the avenues of Minsk. I was carted off and put in prison for a night and only let me go after forcing me to pay an extortionate fine.
I had to wait till March 2, 2021, for the next encounter with the police. By this time I was half way through my Master’s. The “special police” came for me at the student dormitory at 7:00 am. They interrogated me for hours. They were worried about a youth conference I’d organised in the coming days.
On March 5, 2021, the day of the conference, the police detained me and every other attendee. Everyone was interrogated for hours before being released.
The police interrogated me and tried to convince me to start cooperating and go over to Lukashenka’s side. I was lucky however, my closest colleagues, friends, and fellow student activists were sentenced to 2.5 years in prison.
It was obvious that I would not be free for long.
On November 3, 2020 I got into a meeting with the Chairman of the Council of the Republic of Belarus, Ms. Kochanova (who is the right hand of Aliaksandr Lukashenko). I sharply criticised the actions of the authorities to suppress the protests at the meeting. I knew as I spoke the repressive regime would punish me for this.
After this it was with great difficulty that I managed to defend my master’s thesis. It was even more fortunate that I had kept my job at the Academy of Sciences, though that would not last.
I lost my job soon after that meeting with Ms. Kochanova. It was decided personally by the Chairman of the Academy of Sciences,which means it was directly ordered by Ms. Kochanova personally (the director of the institution actually confirms this).
All students in Belarus, if they received a free education, are required to work for 2 years wherever the state wants. As I’d lost my job in the Academy of Sciences I was told to go to work in the countryside. I refused. Fearing for my life and freedom, I had no choice but to flee.
I fled to Prague and joined the doctoral program at Charles University. Although I had to pay Lukashenko $15,000 US dollars for this opportunity. The yearly average salary in Belarus is $8,000 US dollars a year. If this money had not been paid, my family would have been at risk.
Despite being in Prague I continue to do my civic duty for a free Belarus. Here in Prague, I started the organisation “Belarusian Students of the Czech Republic”. We support students who are victims of repression, help educate people on the horrors of Lukashenko’s regime and Belarus’s long proud cultural heritage. We also help our compatriots escape from the regime to Czech universities.
I’ve been the Co-Chairman of the youth political party “YCD” since 2021, at the moment our main focus is helping our members still in Belarusian regime detention centres and prison camps.
At the beginning of 2023, I became a member of the Coordination Council of Belarus. Recently, I have become the head of the Student Affairs Commission there.
The Coordination Council is recognised by Lukashenka as an extremist organisation, and many of its members (for example, Maria Kolesnikova) received prison sentences of 10 years or more.
In the face of danger, we have a lot more to do.
