10 ideas to help Belarusian political prisoners
The Hack for Politzek hackathon took place in mid-March in Warsaw. Politzek.me initiative to help political prisoners offered ten ideas to project participants to create effective tools to support political prisoners and their loved ones, as well as to bring additional attention to repression in Belarus.
Fewer public demonstrations of support for political prisoners
According to politzek.me, there are 1,724 political prisoners in Belarus today. The project coordinator, Inna Kovalenok, does not hide the fact that there are fewer public demonstrations in support of Belarusian political prisoners, but that does not mean that they do not exist. “The hackathon is needed to reevaluate our previous ideas so that it is convenient and elegant to help political prisoners in 2023,” notes Kovalenok.
According to her, among the project participants there were many people who do not work in the civilian sector, but are not indifferent to the fate of Belarus and those in prison. “We worked, among other things, on new online support tools and some kind of online involvement, so that the complex issue of political prisoners would not be frightening”, says the event organizer.
The most important tools to support political prisoners are information about them, donations and letters, says Inna Kovalenok. “Letters come in a lot worse now, but that’s still important: the more you write, the more likely it is that something will show up,” notes DW’s caller. “But we thought that letters that did not reach the addressee could be saved on a political prisoner’s page on our website”. that the support has not ended.” “Everyone can see, be inspired and understand that they are not alone”, Inna Kovalenok is sure.
prison calculator
Another hackathon organizer, volunteer Ekaterina, really likes the idea of writing open letters to political prisoners. “Now they have arrested a doctor who has already done a bone marrow transplant at the center where I was a donor. I want to write him an open letter”, says Ekaterina.
The girl claims that after the start of a large-scale armed aggression against Ukraine, the problems of Belarusian political prisoners faded into the background. “This is a false and incorrect opposition of who suffers more and who suffers less. There are several thousand people who are in prison. It seems to me that there is not enough talk on the international agenda about how many political prisoners there are in Belarus ”, says Ekaterina.
Thanks to one of the hackathon projects, the litzek.me initiative page will appear more often in search queries, and an English version of the site will appear – so that as many people as possible, including foreigners, know about the situation in Belarus.
Participants in another hackathon project, rolitzek.me, created a calculator to calculate prison sentences for Belarusian political prisoners. It shows how much time a person has already spent in prison, how much time is left and when he should be released.
TikTok prison and 3D camera in SIZO
Former political prisoner Levon Khalatryan spent half a year in a detention center before the trial, after which, on charges of gross violation of order (Article 342 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus), he was sentenced to two years prison freedom and sent to an open correctional institution (the so-called “chemistry” – Red.). He completed his term and was released in May 2022.
At the hackathon, Khalatryan told his story to members of the team that creates TikTok with prison stories. “It was important for me to share my experience, I like to speak sincerely about what there is (in conclusion – Redninai) occurred. It looks like the guys were interested in seeing the person they worked for live. I told how I overcame difficulties after my release,” says Khalatryan.
Levon’s idea to create a 3D model of a cell in a pre-trial detention center also came to fruition. “When I left the pre-trial detention center, we made a 3D model of the camera, we thought about how to apply it. The participants of the hackathon are trying to integrate it into the politzek.me website. There were many ideas, not least because there are models of people in motion in the cell, it will be possible to interact using VR,” says Khalatryan.
What is important for political prisoners?
Levon is convinced that it is necessary to talk about Belarusian political prisoners using all available methods and means: “There must be different approaches, and fun too, no matter how strange it may be. In the modern world it is difficult to attract people’s attention, they don’t they want to think about the bad.”
The former political prisoner says that during his imprisonment it was important for him to know that everything was fine with his family members, that they would be helped. “It is also important to know that all this was not in vain and that, when you leave, you will have some kind of support. For example, that after discharge you can get a job, or that they help you go on vacation, as I got rid of ”, admits Levon Khalatryan.
Source: DW
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