The former host of the show X Zone shares his thoughts on the prison and the decision to leave the country

Dzmitry Luksha, a former political prisoner, journalist, and host of the show X Zone, was released on pardon on July 3. Of the four years in a penal colony he was sentenced to by the Minsk City Court, he served two and a half years. After his release, Dzmitry, along with his also pardoned wife Palina, left Belarus and is now safe. Dzmitry agreed to tell us why he made such a decision and how he served his sentence in Škloŭ penal colony No. 17.

Dzmitry Luksha was detained on March 11, 2022 after a search in his apartment in Minsk. The reason for his detention was his story on the Kazakh TV channel Khabar 24, where he worked as a freelance correspondent. According to the prosecution, Dzmitry allegedly "with the aim of discrediting the country, with the help of a cameraman, produced a number of videos that contained deliberately false information," which is a crime under Article 369-1 of the Criminal Code. In addition, he was accused of participating in mass protests in August 2020 (Part 1 of Article 342 of the Criminal Code).

"I was carrying out my professional activities"

"When they came to search my flat, they immediately told me that I would be charged under two articles: Article 369-1 (discrediting the Republic of Belarus) and Part 1 of Article 342 (participation in mass events). At the first interrogation, I explained that I was near the Stela that day, working," Luksha says.

'And why did you go out on the roadway?' the investigator asked.

'Well, where should I be? Of course, at the scene of the events. I was carrying out my professional activities.'

'Does it give you the right to go out on the roadway? You shouldn't have been there.'

And then they found a photo on my phone where I was at some kind of protest march.”

After his detention, Dzmitry was placed in the temporary detention facility at Akrescina for five days, and then transferred to the pre-trial detention center No. 1 on Valadarskaha, where he spent ten months before the trial.

"The first small shock was when I was brought to a cell dubbed Shanghai, while all the inmates were on a walk. I saw three tier bunk beds, the little room there was and thought: 'How do people live here!' But I quickly came to my senses and tried to drive away troubling thoughts," Dzmitry recalls those events.

The trial, which lasted almost two weeks, from November 18 to December 2, did not leave much impression. Dzmitry had a feeling that this process was perfunctory, that the verdict was clear from the first court hearing. The defense arguments were not heard by the court. Then there was the appeal, and Luksha was waiting for its result in Mahilioŭ prison No. 4 and then in penal colony No. 17 in Škloŭ.

"You're Luksha! What were you missing?"

"When they brought me to the penal colony at night, one of the officers stopped next to me, recognized me and said, 'You're Luksha! You're also a white-red-white head?”

Many officers knew me from the show X Zone. At the beginning, I often heard such phrases: 'What were you missing?', 'You had everything. You're a famous person', 'Why did you need it?'  I've heard that maybe for the first six months.

And as other political prisoners I was harassed in the penal colony. I've been to the a punitive isolation cell (SHIZO) several times. An employee came one day, and I was writing a letter. I got up and greeted him according to the rules. He said to keep writing. I sat down to write again, and literally a minute later I heard behind my back: 'Luksha, why don't you greet me?' 'You're behind my back', I replied. Then he checked the list of my belongings. Everything matched, but the list said I had one kilogram of tea. The officer took the bag with tea in his hand and said that there were eight hundred grams there. And I received a violation record. A lot of violations are errors in those lists, which is almost impossible to keep correct. You need to be a maniac to constantly count and weigh everything so that every grain is counted: cigarettes, matches. This is one of the easiest ways to make a violation record.” says the journalist.

Luksha says that psychologically it was more difficult in the penal colony than in the detention center:

"You are completely unprotected from constant pressure in the penal colony, especially if you're a political prisoner: the same things which is forgiven to ordinary inmates lead to a punishment for us. It seemed that you could get used to everything, but if you constantly receive violation records, you start to feel hysterical. White is called black. One of my last violations: 'Why is you shirt unbuttoned?' I answer that everything is buttoned up according to the regulations. 'Oh, so you're also arguing?' It feels like either you're an idiot or you're talking to an idiot."

"Living and expecting that they will come for you again is very depressing"

"First, a representative of the Prosecutor General's Office came to the penal colony and gave me an application for pardon. I signed it, but whether I would receive it or not, even he himself was unsure. He said that the pardon is scheduled for July 3.

On July third, when I was on my way home after my release, I was informed that my wife Palina had also been pardoned. And she, in turn, was told that I was free.

But the feeling of insecurity and anxiety has not gone away. You're just not sure about tomorrow. Living and expecting that they will suddenly come for you again is very depressing. And I was also very impressed by the changes in Minsk. The city has become empty. There are few people on the street, and they are somehow faceless. And there are a lot of police. They walk around Minsk with weapons, in ammunition: 'What's going on here?'

That's why we decided to leave Belarus and start a different life."

According to the Belarusian Association of Journalists, 33 media representatives are currently imprisoned.