It Concerns All of Us

To fight back, to liberate, to stand as a wall and not to let one pass.

In October, when the mother of two children Palina Sharenda-Panasyuk was summoned to the Commission on Juvenile Delinquency, dozens of Brest residents came to support her thanks to appeals on social networks. They entered the executive committee building. No one but relatives was allowed to the committee room. Then Palina stood in the doorway and refused to step up. The woman from the commission tried to persuade her to close the door and leave the people who had come: "This concerns only you", she said. The women's voices in the corridor replied: "This concerns all of us, we have children too!"

"This concerns all of us." Perhaps, it's the most important phrase in the history of the Belarusian resistance, both of the last months and the last twenty years. Only when everyone realised that any arbitrary arrest, beating, or pressure on children was not about the one who was repressed, but about the whole society, we managed to help - to fight back, liberate, stand as the wall, and prevent it.

In October, Brest citizens, who refused to leave the executive committee building, managed to defend the children of Palina Sharenda-Panasyuk. Today the boys are in danger again: Palina has been arrested and put in a pre-trial detention facility on charges of violence against an internal affairs officer. Article 364, up to six years of imprisonment. She has already been detained several times under administrative offences. They like to jail person for 15 days and then add the same term several times. The administrative code prohibits arresting the mothers of minor children; even the Belarusian judges know this, despite their very poor legal knowledge. Meanwhile, it is easy and even welcomed to imprison mothers under framed-up criminal articles. If one cannot arrest Palina under the habitual 23.34 of the Administrative Code; one can try her under Article 364 of the Criminal Code. As for the children - well, she should have thought of them earlier, when she was running for deputy, demanded the resignation of Lukashenka on state air, and went to the rallies. All the more, Palina's husband Andrei Sharenda got another 15 days in jail just before Christmas. To be more exact, he spent the New Year's Eve in jail, then he was released and now was sentenced. Of course, Andrei did not go to court on January 6. On the phone, when I habitually said "call me later", he warned: "I don't know how long I'll be at large. It may be a couple of days or five minutes".

For now, Andrei is at home with his sons. He does not know when they will come for him and tries to help his wife: talk to a lawyer, bring a parcel, transfer money on the prison account. In Brest, two minor children may turn in the clutches of the system at any moment: 29-year-old Darya Paliakova is already facing trial under the same article as Palina. Darya's husband died last year. She raises her children alone. Fortunately, Palyakova is still under house arrest - she has not been sent to a pre-trial detention facility. But if she gets a real sentence, the system will come after her children. By the way, Katyaryna Barysevich, journalist of Tut.by, who first published information about zero permille in the blood of Raman Bandarenka, also has a minor daughter. Meanwhile, the KGB has been keeping Katyaryna in the pre-trial detention facility for almost two months already.

These representatives of an unknown to science biological species who kill, imprison and torture, have probably been studying human behaviour for a long time and learned one human feature: people are willing to do anything for the sake of their children. So, they must imprison the mothers hoping to defeat the whole nation. They have mastered this primitive weapon. However, we have a weapon against them. It is solidarity and the ability to group instantly.

In September, we all worked together to release the six-year-old son of activist Alena Lazarchyk from an orphanage. One Facebook post was enough for hundreds of Minskers to come to the orphanage the next day, demanding the return of the boy. One did not even send riot police there. It was clear it's better to stay away from people who protect the child. In October, Brest residents gathered in front of the executive committee building after the posts on social networks and the Charter and defended the children of Palina and Andrei Sharenda. But representatives of a different species, retreating for a while, are coming back. They come up with new articles, frame up new criminal cases and come back.

To ensure that they never come back and finally stay away from our children forever and ever, we must destroy the whole system. If earlier many people used to say they did not participate in anything and kept silent for the sake of their children, now everyone has finally realized there is a direct link between every child and the regime: if we want to save the children of our heroes and our ones, Lukashenka must resign. It's the only way out. Many have tried to act differently - through silence and fitting into the system. No one succeeded. It is why today everyone is on the streets. It means that soon Palina, Katyaryna, and Darya, and hundreds of other Belarusians will be free. Spring is coming. It is getting closer with every new flag in the window. With every new protester. With every free word, spoken out without fear. With every letter to a political prisoner. With every walk to the Square.

Iryna Khalip, especially for Charter97.org