Inna Shevchenko: They wanted to threaten us but we will be back

Activist Ina Shevchenko (in the centre) has told Euroradio what happened to the girls after the abduction. According to the girl, they were suddenly captured by men at black in Minsk bus depot “Eastern” at 7 p.m. when they were waiting for the bus to leave for Homel. Numerous witnesses saw it. 

 They were deprived of all their personal belongings and two strangers started interrogating them. They wondered who had sent the girls to Belarus and “who had paid for the action”, whether they cooperated with the Belarusian opposition and what Belarusian opposition members they knew. Shevchenko says that the abductors said that they were policemen. However, they reacted to the request to deliver them to a police office in a very rude way.

The girls were made to get on a dark minibus at 6 p.m. Their hands were tied with plastic tape and there were men who prevented them from raising their heads near each of them. “They started beating us when we moved and told us that those were the last hours of our life and that we would give account for everything that we had done”, - says Shevchenko.

The car stopped in a forest 4 hours later. They were made to take off their upper clothes and hold posters with fascist swastikas. Brilliant green was poured on them, Inna’s hair was cut. Then they were made to take off their underclothes and were beaten with sticks. Everything was filmed.

"Then they ordered us to put on our clothes, made us get on the bus and delivered us to the border. They pushed us out and said that we could walk home”, - said the activist.
They wandered until they found the village of Beki where people helped them and gave them a cell phone so that they could phone their friends.
"However, it was dangerous, - says Inna. Some young man came and tried to rape us… Then the police arrived and said that the consul had set off and took us to the police office. Then they took us to hospital. The doctor registered the traces of beating and stress. We were interrogated by the police”.
The activists say that they take no offence at Belarusians. They have understood how intimidated Belarusians are, that they feel unprotected and are afraid to protest.

Inna Shevchenko says that the girls do not regret their visit Belarus although they had to experience so much there. According to her, a new trip to Belarus is being prepared, “We are hoping that Belarusian girls will join us as they support us but are afraid to protest”, - she says.

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Let us remind you that the Ukrainians have been officially deported from Belarus. Their relatives helped them by sending the necessary documents to diplomats. The three activists left for Ukraine with representatives of the Ukrainian Embassy to Minsk at about 1 a.m.

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The activists of FEMEN who organized the action near the building of KGB in Minsk on December 19 have been found in a forest near the village of Beki in Yelsk District of Homel Province.

One of the abducted feminists, Ina Shevchenko, has informed her colleague Alexandra Shevchenko about it. She borrowed a cell phone from a passer-by.

Shevchenko: “They were left there naked, without any belongings, phones or money. They were beaten and their hair was cut”.
Alexandra received another phone call during her interview with Euroradio. Her colleague informed her how they had been detained and where they had spent the whole night.
Shevchenko: “They were detained at the railway terminal, blindfolded and stayed in some bus the whole night. They were driven to a forest. Then oil was poured on them, they were beaten and threatened with a knife. Their hair was cut with the knife. Everything was filmed. They were left in the forest in the morning and had to walk to that village”.

FEMEN has called on Belarusians to give accommodation to Ina Shevchenko and her friends until representatives of the Ukrainian Embassy come to them.
The feminists are indignant at the way Belarusian special police troops treat women. Alexandra Shevchenko says that members of special police troops did it to the girls. However, none of the offenders showed their IDs to the girls.