Time out with Veronica Tsepkalo and Marina Adamovich
Marina Adamovich is the coordinator of the civil initiative "Vyzvalenne2020". She is the wife of Nikolai Statkevich, leader of the Belarusian party "Narodnaya Hramada", who has spent more than 8 years in prison. He has been recognised as a prisoner of conscience three times. Nikolai was most recently imprisoned on 31st May, 2020. He faces 10 to 15 years in prison.
In her interview, Marina Adamovich talks about the conditions in which her husband is currently held, and about his hopes and aspirations. Despite the harsh conditions in which he is being held, Nikolai tries not to lose heart.
“We understand the situation completely. We have total clarity around what we need to do and not do”
Marina also shares what enables her to cope in this difficult situation, about the support among the wives of political prisoners, as well as about where she finds inner strength.
“First, we are Belarusians. The support we feel, the moral support, we feel absolutely constantly. These are such wonderful people who have finally understood what they want to be, what they want to see for themselves and how exhausted they have become over the past 26 years… ”.
Marina also talked about her past, how and why she decided to become a lawyer, her work as a biology teacher at a medical university, as well as her thoughts and memories.
“I remember hope. For me, every new day was absolutely fascinating. I woke up every day with a thirst for life, with a thirst for something new.
And there was hope that everything had truly started to change”
Marina's words were imbued with love for her husband, Belarus and Belarusians. The interview turned out to be sincere, heartfelt and frank.