Young Front's Dashkevich walks out free! (video)
Young Front leader Zmicier Dashkevich stayed behind bars since December 2010. He was welcomed by his wife and dozens of friends in front of the prison
Zmicier Dashkevich told Euroradio upon release: "Thank you! I feel okay. We are trying to stage an action here.... The guys from Young Front should fancy something up... How was I released? At 0630 they unlocked the doors and said: "Here you go, Dashkevich. We can't stand you anymore in here"... What helped me to hold on and endure all these years? God helped me and my beloved wife and friends, the faithful. Big thank you to everybody!!"
Zmicier Dashkevich welcomed from prison in Hrodna (in pictures)
***
Zmicier Dashkevich: No way I am going to leave this country
In the morning of August 28, political prisoner Zmicier Dashkevich walked out free from a prison in Hrodna. The Young Front leader was released via the side entrance, used for receiving parcels from prisoners' relatives.
Zmicier was welcomed by his wife, friends and fellow Young Front members who had stayed on the watch since midnight in front of the main entrance.
Zmicier Dashkevich: "I wish to thank you for supporting me - for your letters and prayers. I felt it a lot. There were many letters coming from Belarus and Europe. This was crucial across the prison wall. All the rest depended on your own strength."
When asked about the conditions in prison, Zmicier said:
"It was not easy in prison. But that was not Kolyma in Siberia, thank God. Other inmates also supported me well. But, of course, there were those who wanted to reduce their prison term at my cost."
On his plans for the future:
"They warned during the release that "the prison cell was always waiting." But I am going to continue doing what I used to before. I am strongly convinced I should not leave the country."
On what he feels like at the moment and his immediate plans for today...
"I wish someone brought some meat... As for the rest, everything is according to the plan. We will decide now what to do later today."
When in the Hrodna prison, Zmicier Dashkevich served his term in a solitary cell, in his view, in "acceptable" conditions.
Dashkevich: "I slept quietly last night. I lived the present day, because the system had already trained us. I feel good and healthy!"
***
The leader of unregistered organization Young Front Zmicier Dashkevich and his fellow Eduard Lobau were arrested on December 18, 2010 ahead of the presidential elections. They were charged with beating two Minsk residents and convicted. The detention of Young Front leaders were described by politicians and human rights defenders as a preventive measure of intimidation ahead of the election day.
In March 2011, Dashkevich was sentenced to two years in prison for alleged hooliganizm. In 2012 when at a colony in Hlybokaye, he received additional one year in prison for "malicious disobedience to prison's administration." Dashkevich had stayed in the Hrodna prison since the fall of 2012.
Upon release, Zmicier Dashekvich will remain under preventive police supervision for six months. This means he will have to remain in his apartment from 0800 till 0600 and to check with the police three times per month. Zmicier Dashkevich is 32 years old.
Dashkevich: They told me to exit as they could not stand me any longer
Photo: bymedia.net and Euroradio
