“I knew I would be with this person right until the end!”
Veronika Barouskaya is an extraordinary and luminous woman. She is the wife of political prisoner Yauhen Barouski. She accepted Yauhen’s proposal while he was under investigation.
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On 11th October last year, Yauhen took part in one of the Sunday marches during which he witnessed riot policemen beating a man and trying to push him into their van. Yauhen shouted "we’re taking our guy!” and along with others, defended the man. Now Yauhen has been sentenced to 4 years in prison and issued with a large fine.
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Veronika described the torture and humliation her husband went through during his arrest and how information was beaten out of him.
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“He told me that while he was being arrested, which was being filmed, he was given five seconds to answer questions, and if he did not give these officers the answers they wanted, they beat him with a truncheon... He was beaten so severely he had no choice other than to tell them what they wanted to hear.
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Her account of Yauhen’s trial is every bit as disturbing. There was complete disregard by the court of evidence proving Yauhen's innocence and they accepted the unsubstantiated claim by riot police officers for compensation for moral injury. It was an absurd and inconsistent process.
“Our men are true heroes who are not guilty of anything. We all know that. We should be proud of them, support them and wait for them to come home.”