The Hero of Our Time :: Charter'97 :: News

On September 16, 2005 policemen disbanded a rally in remembrance of the disappeared oppositionists. Policemen seized portraits of the disappeared and national flags. On that day one of the Zubr leaders Mikita Sasim lift up his jeans shirt as a symbol of resistance to the dictatorship. He was brutally beaten up by riot policemen and hospitalized with a traumatic brain injury. Before the elections, on March 14, Mikita Sasim was arrested. Riot policemen seized him right in the street of Minsk. In the police department he was taken bad. An ambulance was called in. He was operated on appendicitis in the night, and in the morning the youth leader in handcuffs was taken to his native town of Baranavichy. In Baranavichy prison Mikita was chained to the bed and was guarded by policemen. In a week he was hurled to the ward of pre-trial detention center. As it turned out, a criminal action had been brought up against him for “evasion of military service”. The military enlistment office didn’t want to consider beating up by riot policemen and about brain concussion. Now, in the remand prison, Mikita rgrets only one thing, that he could not come to the square on March 19 to defend tent camp, to come to Akrestsin remand prison on March 25. The Charter’97 press center was informed about that by Mikita’s mother, Svyatlana Ivanauna Sasim.

- Could you tell us what’s the news about Mikita?

- He is in the pre-trial detention center now. He wasn’t allowed to spend even 10 days in the hospital. The lawyer told that Mikita will stand trial in the first half of April. Investigator Kakhovich, who is on charge of Mikita’s case, is intimidating me, saying that Mikita would get a harsh sentence.

- Can he receive parcels, are meetings with relatives allowed?

- I was forbidden meetings with him. The investigator told me that meetings would not be allowed as the case against Mikita had been initiated a long time ago, and the trial is to take place soon. He told me to write an application if I want, but the administration would not agree to it anyway. Food and things are admitted, I have brought two parcels already.

- Does he write to you?

- He has written in his letter that stitch tracks are healing little by little. He is interested by the developments in the country greatly. He asks to bring newspapers, as he knows nothing. He asks to give regards to all activists, asks them to hold on, not to give up, continue struggle… He is with them in his thoughts even in prison. He is optimistic. My son is a strong person…

- Have you visited him in the hospital? What was his condition when he was taken from Minsk?

- He was operated on appendicitis in the night, and in the morning he was transported to Baranavichy. Can you imagine that?! His stitches could have disrupted… I was not allowed to visit him for a long time. I asked nurses, policemen to let me see him. I could enter the ward only on the second day. Mikita laid a hand on his side. He could hardly raise from the bed a little. He was awfully pale… He tried not to upset me, but I saw that his face was distorted by pain…

- How would you evaluate the actions of the policemen? To your mind, why do they treat Mikita in such a way?

- Mikita is charged with evasion of military service, but everybody understands why he is treated this way. After being beaten up by riot policemen in September he had a brain concussion. After the hospital he constantly complained of dizziness, headache. He felt feel faint constantly. Yet the investigator told me that he was fit for military service. He was seized a week before the elections. Policemen were guarding him in the ward. I was allowed rarely, and could say just a few words. I am sure that it’s a reprisal for his political activism. If he apologized, he could have been released, but he wouldn’t ask forgiveness. He always wanted to struggle, to be with his friends on the square.

- Is it difficult to be a mother of a real Belarusian patriot?

- Certainly. He had been struggling for 5 years. He was beaten up, imprisoned for 5 days. I cannot say that I have got accustomed to that, but I know he could not live differently. I love him and I am proud of him. Son told me: “Mom, you have brought me up this way, I cannot behave another way. You told me to be a decent person, so that you wouldn’t be ashamed. And I act as you told me”.

Later I met his friends from Zubr. I have never met such people before. Maybe they have a spirit of fighters for freedom of Belarus who lived before. They are wholesome, intelligent people, devoted to the ideals of Freedom, devoted to Belarus.

I light candles on the 16th day of every month, I pray for my son every day… He is my only child, and I am all his family. If he would be convicted, I wish he would not be taken far away from me.