“I’ll tell you honestly, he has been in power for 26 years. I have been trying to fight him somehow for 28 years”
Elena, 62 years, a pensioner. She has always been interested in politics. On August 10, she became a witness of a rough detention of the young people, who was cycling around the city after the fraud elections. Elena started filming what was happening on her mobile phone, for which she was hit in her chest and put in a police van. She was shortly released, but the hit, she received, caused her tumor that needed a special medical treatment.
The second time, Elena was detained on February 26, when she took part in a flash-mob, during which pensioners read classical Belarusian literature. She spent the whole night in a temporary detention, where she and other pensioners had to sleep on the floor and didn’t have any access to water, food or hygiene items.
During the arrest, the policemen repeated that "the pensioners have betrayed the president and deserve punishment."
In her interview, Elena talks about the inhuman and degrading treatment by police officers, and shares her emotions and feelings.