Andrei Sannikau: It was the only way to communicate with my son

Ex-candidate for Presidency has written two books both for children and adults.

Andrei Sannikau, the former candidate for Presidency and the leader of the civil campaign "European Belarus", having served a year and a half in prison on charges of organizing mass disorders, has written a book of fairy tales. The adventures of little mouse Piky and his friends "— tales for Daniel. These are the stories that Sannikau "could not read" his son at bedtime, while he was in prison, and therefore he sent them to his wife in letters. The tales turned into a book that will be published in the near future by Quatrefoil Press (publishing house in Poland), Radio France International reports.

- How to write a book of fairy tales, while being imprisoned?

- In fact, it was the only way to communicate with my son. Let's imagine: I am in prison and my son is three and a half years old. We used to spend all the time together and now he is suffering from the absence both of father and mother, as she was in the same prison in the next cell. Then she was released but I remained in prison. What should I write the child? How does it feel like being in prison? First, I hoped he had not been said anything because it would hurt him. And second, if even he had been said, it would have been an absurd to describe everyday life in prison for a small child. It would also be an absurd to say that I was on business. It is bad to tell lies even in letters.

Perhaps, a dozen times I have started writing him a letter but his name was the only thing I had written on paper. I could not just physically do it. Then I decided that I'd rather tell him stories. And, thus, I do not have to explain where I am at and what is happening, and we will communicate. That was the beginning.

- What do these tales personally mean to you?

- First of all it is my duty and support. For a long time we were isolated, with no letters from home. And, besides, they were received only from time to time. I could not keep in touch with my family. But then I started to receive letters from home. First, I learned that he liked stories, second, he started to be involved. I asked the family to figure out what he wanted.

He had some ideas about stories, about the characters' behavior. It was much more interesting. It was a great emotional support for me. He came up with some stories that were included in these tales. Daniel did not accept any evil; he could not stand a thought that there was any evil in the world. Even knowing it he believed that people were pretending, and everything was not for real.

There was a bad character, a little mouse, in my story. And Daniel strongly demanded that little mouse to reform. One had to reform a bad hero into a good one.

– Has your son already read a book? What did he say?

- Yes, he has read it. First, we discussed every illustration, as a young girl from the USA, Liza Hancharova, our friends' acquaintance illustrated the book. We discussed and she sent us sketches, Dania approved them. Recently he saw them and really liked. He started coming up with ideas, giving me a job, how to develop the plot, and now he simply reads the book out of class.

- There are different testimonies of political prisoners in Soviet prisons. Don't you want to write a book about your experience, a book for adults?

- It is almost ready. In prison I did not make any notes because they disappeared during jail "shakedowns", some were taken away, etc. And it is pretty hard to write a book in prison. One needs some distance.

I don't know how much distance I had, but I managed to describe not only the life in prison but the events during the election campaign in Belarus.

– Shalamov believed a person did not need a prison experience, it was inhuman. On the contrary, Solzhenitsyn saw it as a possibility for a person to become stronger and better. Today, what can you say, two years after the release, about your prison experience?

- I share the position of Shalamov because it's totally useless experience for innocently suffered among whom I reckon myself. There is no life in the prison, contrary to general notions that one can live there. This is not life. There is not and cannot be any freedom in prison. It is impossible to feel free and at the same time obey the codes, the idiocy of the administrative system, which, unlike, in Russia, controls all prisons. Yes, it is probably possible to withdraw into yourself and abstract, but it is not freedom. There is no life with no freedom so I share Shalamov's position.

By the way, I reread both Solzhenitsyn and Shalamov while in prison. So what seemed to be frightening, for example, in Solzhenitsyn's "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" when I read it at an early age (then I was impressed by cruel everyday life in prison), was not so shocking anymore when I reread it while being imprisoned. But the perception of what Shalamov wrote remained the same.

- What was the most difficult thing for you to pull through?

Parting from the family and relatives. There is no air to breath and a possibility to feel like a free man in prison.

- How do you see the current situation in Belarus on the background of the conflict in eastern Ukraine?

Belarus built a system which today is observed in Russia. Belarusian model has spread to a wider region. It is evident the Kremlin uses it. It is clear that Yanukovych to enrich himself had the same system of repressing all dissent and strict control through force departments and the repressive apparatus. Today, against the background of what is happening in Ukraine, it is clear that the danger lies in this model. This is a dictatorial model, a model of post-Soviet totalitarianism. It is both capable of external aggression and killing people. That's what happens in Belarus.

- Is there any way out, and whether it is possible in the near future?

– Yes, it is. In my opinion, such an extreme manifestation which we see today with respect to Ukraine cannot but cause a blowback. Let it be a slow process, but it will happen. I believe the West and first of all the country itself will react. The only way out is in liberation from these regimes. Attempts to find a compromise with these regimes or to agree on something (and, if we talk about Belarus, there have been taken a great many attempts) will make no difference.

People like Lukashenka are holding on only to power, think only about it. Their words, even good ones, are empty. It is just a way to save their personal power. These dictatorships make the whole country drown. The only way out is in liberation from these regimes.