Mother's Day behind bars: 10 stories of women political prisoners
There are currently 167 women political prisoners, many of them have small children waiting for their release. Some have been separated four years ago, and some quite recently. Mothers behind bars are forced to cope not only with the challenges of incarceration, but also with not being able to take care of their children. The Lukashenka regime also uses children as a way of putting pressure on women political prisoners, as was the case with Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk or Darya Losik. On Mother's Day, Viasna recalls some of the stories of women who ended up behind bars, separated from their children.
Antanina Kanavalava, daughter and son
Antanina Kanavalava, a volunteer at Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya's campaign team, was detained on September 6, 2020 in Minsk. She was accused of administering the Telegram channel Army with the People, preparing to participate in mass riots, and preparing others for them. A month later, Antanina's husband Siarhei Yarashevich, who was accused of the same actions, was detained. Siarhei and Antanina have two children — four and six years old. Their grandmother took them abroad after their parents were detained.
Antanina and Siarhei were sentenced to five and a half years in a penal colony. Antanina is serving time in the Homieĺ women's penal colony, where she started experiencing eyesight problems. Now she has visual disability.
For more than four years, the children of political prisoners Vania and Nastsia have not seen their parents.
- Hanna Kanavalava (Antanina's mother) with her grandchildren
Tatsiana Daniliuk and three sons
Tatsiana Daniliuk from Kobryn was detained quite recently — on the fourth of September, 2024, for participating in protests in August 2020. Her husband was detained with her. Although they have three small children, the woman and her husband were placed in custody. They are awaiting trial.
Viktoryia Damastoi and three children
Viktoryia Damastoi was first detained by the KGB at the end of January 2024 (during the mass detentions of relatives and friends of political prisoners) for allegedly transferring money to the accounts of political prisoners. Then a criminal case was initiated against her under Article 361-2 of the Criminal Code (financing of extremist activities), but she was not taken into custody.
During a house search, electronic devices and money were confiscated from her. Then the security forces found comments on her social media, and they were examined. When the results of the examination were ready, Viktoryia was re-detained and placed in custody.
Viktoryia was charged under five articles of the Criminal Code: Article 130 (inciting other social hatred), Article 367 (slandering Lukashenka), Article 368 (insulting Lukashenka), Article 342 (active participation or calls for active participation in group actions grossly violating public order), Article 361-4 (promoting extremist activities).
Viktoryia has three minor children. She is serving her term in prison No. 1.
Natallia Davydulina and five children
Natallia Davydulina is 47 years old, and she is from Žlobin. She was also detained during the "solidarity raid". The woman is charged under Part 1 and Part 2 of Articles 361-4 of the Criminal Code (assistance to extremist activities). She was tried in the Homieĺ Regional Court.
Natallia and her husband have a large family — five children, and one daughter still goes to elementary school. One of Natallia's sons, Dzianis Davydulin, is a former political prisoner.
Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk and two sons
- Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk with her family
Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk, a public activist from Brest, was detained on January 3, 2021. The security forces broke down the door to her apartment, conducted an inspection, confiscated a number of things, and detained Palina. Her two sons stayed at home: four-year-old Stakh and 11-year-old Slavamir.
Because Palina scratched one of the policemen who came to her house, she was charged under Article 364 of the Criminal Code (violence against employees of the internal affairs bodies). Later, under two more articles: "insulting Lukashenka" (Article 368 of the Criminal Code) and "insulting a representative of the authorities" (Article 369 of the Criminal Code). As a result, she was sentenced to two years of imprisonment.
But the pressure that was exerted on her in the pre-trial detention center did not stop in the penal colony: she was placed in a punitive isolation cell (SHIZO), a cell-type space (PKT), and then a new criminal case was initiated under Article 411 of the Criminal Code. She was sentenced to an additional year of imprisonment. Palina became the first female political prisoner in Belarus convicted under this article. She was transferred to the high security penal colony No. 24. During the first four months in the penal colony, Palina was placed in SHIZO eight times, where she spent almost three months, and then transferred to PKT. Another case was initiated against Palina under Part 2 of Article 411 of the Criminal Code. At the trial, the political prisoner said that she was beaten in the Zarečča penal colony. In October 2023, the woman was sentenced to another year in the penal colony. On May 21, 2024, the woman was supposed to be released, but this did not happen. Shortly before that, a "repentant" propaganda story was filmed with her. She was never released when she was supposed to be, under Article 411 of the Criminal Code
In March 2024, when propagandists made a short film about the political prisoner, and Palina's yellow tag was featured there, it indicated that the term of imprisonment was supposed to end on May 21. But on this date, Palina was not released. She was charged for the third time with "disobeying the administration of the penal colony."
Today, on October 14, the third trial of the woman under Article 411 of the Criminal Code began.
Zhanna Volkava and two children
The woman was detained in a school on September 11, 2023, where she came to meet with her child's teacher.
Zhanna was charged under a number of protest articles and imprisoned. In October 2023, she was charged under several articles of the Criminal Code: Part 1 of Article 367 (slander against Lukashenka), Part 1 of Article 368 (insulting Lukashenka), Part 1 and Part 2 of Articles 361-4 (promoting extremist activities), Part 1 of Article 342 (organization and preparation of actions grossly violating public order, or active participation in them), Part 1 of Article 130 (incitement of other social hatred). The case was heard in closed mode. The woman was sentenced to three years of imprisonment. She is serving her sentence in penal colony No. 4. Two children are waiting for her release.
Irena Kliavets and four children
A specialist of the Minsk City Agency for State Registration and Land Cadastre was detained in the summer of 2022 in the Black Book of Belarus case. Although the woman has four minor children, she was taken into custody.
She was charged under Part 3 of Article 130 (inciting other social hatred), Part 3 of Article 203-1 (illegal actions with respect to information about private life and personal data), Part 3 of Article 352 (unlawful possession of computer information), Part 3 of Article 426 (abuse of power or official authority) of the Criminal Code. As a result, Irena was sentenced to six years in a penal colony and sent to serve time in penal colony No. 4.
Larysa Shchyrakova and son
- Larysa Shchyrakova and son Sviataslau
Former journalist Larysa Shchyrakova was detained on December 6, 2022. Her son Sviataslau was taken to the orphanage on the same day. The ex-husband of the political prisoner, who has been living in Novosibirsk for the last few years, collected the necessary documents and took Sviataslau to live with him on December 23. The boy was not let go with other relatives.
A criminal case was initiated against Larysa under Article 369-1 of the Criminal Code (discrediting the Republic of Belarus) and Part 1 and Part 2 of Articles 361-4 (assistance to extremist activities). The political prisoner was sentenced to three and a half years in a penal colony. She did not file an appeal. Shortly after the verdict was announced, she was transferred to a penal colony.
Hanna Ablab and two minor children
- Hanna Ablab on trial
Hanna was detained on September 22, 2021. An employee of the Belarusian Railway became a defendant in the case of the Workers' Movement and the only accused woman in the case. She was sentenced to 11 years in a penal colony for "treason against the state" and "participation in an extremist formation."
The woman has three children, two of whom are minors.
Maryia Uspenskaya and her son
- Maryia Uspenskaya
Maryia was detained on September 28, 2021 on suspicion of complicity with her husband Andrei Zeltser in the murder of KGB officer Dzmitry Fedasiuk. After the incident, she began to have mental problems.
The woman was tried as "a person who committed a socially dangerous act defined by criminal law, in a state of unconsciousness or who became ill after committing a crime with a mental disorder (disease)." On June 16, 2022, the verdict was announced: compulsory treatment in a psychiatric hospital. The term is not set by the court. Maryia will be treated until she recovers. She is currently being held at a psychiatric hospital.
