Dr Aibolit From Babruisk Prison

Political prisoners can form a government, and more than one.

On Sunday, the social media feeds were full of virtual flowers and congratulations: the day of the medical worker, the third Sunday of June, and everyone congratulated doctors - friends and strangers, those who helped them once and those who are helping now, who saved the life of a relative and cured a child. I quickly thought about Andrei Liubetski, a maxillofacial surgeon who is in prison in Babruisk.

Earlier this same Sunday, Liubetski answered thousands of congratulations. It is impossible to count exactly how many people he helped and I don’t think he’s ever counted.

When Andrei worked in a children's hospital, children from orphanages in different cities of Belarus were taken to him. The children were suffering from various diseases like harelips, cleft palates and so on. That was the likely reason for their parents to abandon them. Liubetski saved these children from problems that in the future would deprive them of the opportunity to enjoy a normal life. These children would be called freaks and mocked - both in the orphanage and beyond. And Liubetsk returned to them ordinary, good and pretty faces. There were no traces left. He loved his patients and was justifiably proud of what he was doing.

When the head of the medical department where he was working went on vacation, and Andrei was appointed the acting head, he immediately accepted asylum seekers for treatment, stateless people, and children whose parents in the provinces could not get a referral. His department turned into a large humanitarian centre during the vacation of the head. They were performing surgery for those who at other times would not have had a chance to quickly get a referral to this hospital due to the lack of available places, or absence of a residence permit, or the inability to prove their official employment. Liubetski made decisions quickly. They were providing surgery for the children and curing them, and the parents were crying with happiness and thanking the talented and noble man who, with his decisive action and fine work, inspired hope that the world would not fall into the abyss after all.

The surgeon Liubetski was hurrying off "to the office", a private dental center, because one was unable to support four children with the only income from a state hospital employment. He was removing teeth and installing implants after the rescued children. He never complained and always joked. Also, he always found time for real and Facebook friends (it's so convenient to make an appointment in private message, isn't it) and for strangers who heard about the skilful doctor.

He was fired from the hospital in 2016 - then the fourth child was born in the Liubetski family, and Andrei temporarily refused night shifts to help his wife. So, the administration of the hospital simply did not sign a new employment contract with him. In 2021, when the name Liubetski became known outside the medical and patient communities, they went to the marches with the whole family and did not miss a single one. In the evenings, Andrei participated in district and yard actions and also was a volunteer near the walls of the Akrestsina prison, he was providing first aid to the beaten people who were coming out of there. It happened that even just on a free evening, he went out for a walk around his Shabany district with the white-red-white flag.

Liubetski lost any job opportunities in the spring of 2021. Also, his wife Natallia was under arrest in the KGB pre-trial detention center for three days. So, Andrei sent his family abroad to Germany, where Natalia's sister was living. His followers and friends were convinced that the whole family were leaving with the whole family when he posted photos of his wife and children at the airport on Facebook. He did not go with them. Andrei was saving, helping and healing for two decades and for the first time in his life wrote that he was ready to accept help for his family. But he had no time. He was arrested a week after Natasha's departure - for comments on Facebook. And then - like everyone else: three pre-trial detention centers, five years of reinforced regime imprisonment. More than two years of his imprisonment have already passed. Natasha and the children learned German.

I thought about Andrei Liubetski not only because of the day of the doctor and flowers on social media pages. I do remember him often. In America, Liubetski would have been a millionaire, in Europe hundreds of students would have gathered for his lectures, in Asia there would have been queues for him. And in Belarus, he is imprisoned, and no one knows what will happen to the hands of the surgeon Liubetski when he leaves the colony. Just imagine the level of professionals of all the imprisoned Belarusians in different fields who were accused because of likes, reposts, comments, cartoons and pictures with flags. It would be possible to form a government (and more than one) with all of them, a parliament, a Masonic lodge, and any board of directors, or a team of like-minded professionals. Even just a fun company that one day will gather, not in a kitchen sure, there will not be enough space for all of them there. They will gather in a square. And the champagne will be flowing freely, and we will shake their hands.

But now they are being killed. Let's keep this in mind.

Iryna Khalip, especially for Charter97.org

If you like this article, you can support the website Charter97.org

MULTI-CURRENCY ACCOUNT FOR ASSISTANCE:

Bank's name: Bank Millennium S.A.
Address: ul. Stanislawa Zaryna, 2A, 02-593, Warszawa
IBAN: PL 97 1160 2202 0000 0002 1671 1123
SWIFT: BIGBPLPW
Name of the account holder: Fundacja “KARTA ‘97”
Purpose/title of payment: Donation for statuary aims

You can contact us by the e-mail charter97@gmail.com