Jakov (Яков)

* 1999

Belarus
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    Being treated by volunteer medics

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    “My brother pulled me out from the police van and started yelling at them to call an ambulance. The riot police just ignored him. But there was a surgeon among the people detained in the van who examined me and said that I had been shot. Then this private car with volunteer medics came and I was given first aid, they dressed my wound, gave me two drips and called an ambulance. I was surrounded by people: there were doctors, my brother and those OMON riot policemen who looked quite scared. The ambulance came in 10 or maybe 15 minutes. I was telling myself how stupid it would be, to die in my own brother's arms and amid all that chaos.”

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    Hands on the back of the head and the right answer

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    “We were thrown into a van with tinted windows, we were laying with our faces on the floor and we had to have our hands at the back of our head. They were asking us: 'What do you want to change? What is so bad about the country we are living in? What is the colour of our flag? And who is our president?” I didn't want to cause any more violence so I answered that our flag is black and green and Lukashenko is our president. I was scared indeed. They searched my phone. I knew they would do such a thing so I just deleted everything prior to this, so I got my phone back.”

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    Shot at point-blank range

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    “This van with tinted windows showed up on our left side, blocking our way, and six armed men in uniforms jumped out of it. They were quite aggressive, yelling, and they started smashing windows of my car. Pieces of broken glass fell right into my face so I tried to get to the passenger seat to get some cover. At that moment I felt this sharp pain in my back, I was thinking that they hit me with a baton. They dragged us from the car and threw us to the ground, they kept beating us and searched our car. Then they threw us into the van with tinted windows. I touched the spot on my back that kept hurting so much, my hand was covered in blood.”

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    Praha, 20.11.2021

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We believed that our voices would bring changes, but the answer was shooting me with a bullet

Jakov
Jakov
photo: Jakov
photo: Jakov
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Jakov was born in 1999 in Minsk, the capital of Belarus. He is of Belarusian ancestry. Jakov’s parents are middle class, they consider themselves a happy family. His father (born in 1964) has been working at a car dealership representing Mercedes-Benz in Belarus. His mother (born in 1965, has been working at a state military enterprise. His older brother (born in 1987), has been working as a sales manager. After graduating from secondary school, Jakov studied at the university of science and technology and later at the Belarusian National Technical University, undergoing its distance learning programme. He had been working as a brand manager at a company selling home cinema systems. He voted in the presidential election of August 9th, 2020 wearing a white armband. Two days later, on August 11th, he took part in the protests. He was shot in his own car. Then he had been thrown into a police van. He had been treated by volunteer medics, after that, Jakov had been taken to the No. 10 Hospital in Minsk. A bullet had been removed from his lungs during an emergency procedure, yet another one showed up later on on the CT scan. His family asked the Czech Republic for help. Jakov underwent another operation in Hradec Králové. Nowadays, he has been relocated to the Czech Republic.

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