Raman (Раман)

* 1984

  • “We were voting in those open boxes. I saw those election committee members, who used to be my teachers, looking at me with disdain. I made a photo of my ballot and I folded it as we had agreed on before. But I didn't feel good while doing this. What was left of our freedom, when we had to think how to protect our votes, granted by our constitution, by birth and by the right for a better future of our children?!”

  • “What can Kupalovski Theater's actors play, with the OMON standing behind their doors? When they are being told what they could say and what they couldn't? What can physicians do, when they are being told what to write down in the papers? They are saving people's lives, yet they can't save their reputation. That's just horrible. And I can see that you are pitying me. I want to live in a free country, where there would be no need to look at each other like this. Pain, that's all I can see in this stare, just pain. As my gaze was just the same, as I looked upon my cellmates.”

  • “We would run into this courtyard entry and we were watching this army of the OMON-men – with their helmets, with shields, in their full gear. Sitting under a tree, I was thinking about the kind of ammunition they had, how well they were prepared, how well they were armed – that they were ready for combat, basically. But who was the enemy? It was us, the Belorussians. But we didn't do anything, we were just protesting in a quite peaceful manner. I felt sick, as that was just ugly.”

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    Praha, 23.11.2020

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There is no possibility of a peaceful development in Belarus

Raman
Raman
photo: Post Bellum

Raman was born in 1984 in Minsk, Belarus, in the then Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. He was raised in an orphanage in Salihorsk. In 1989, he was adopted. He doesn’t know his biological parents. There are no records that could shine a light on why he had ended up in the orphanage. He has his biological father’s name and his stepmother’s surname. He went to Frunze District’s School no. 211 in Minsk. He has two university degrees. He graduated from the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Belarusian State Technological University. Later, he graduated from the University’s Faculty of Economics and Management. He had been working in Minsk as a supervisor, construction manager and technological supervision department member. After that, Raman had been living in Saint Petersburg, Russia, working for a development company – he had been overseeing construction works in the city of Veliky Novgorod. In Minsk, he established a company specializing in manufacturing hand-made souvenirs. He started a pizza parlour and four cafes. He participated in the August 9th, 2020 elections. After that, he joined protests against the election fraud. He was arrested and beaten by the police. For four days, he had been held in Akrescina Detention Centre, then he had been transported to Slucky district’s Medical-Prophylactic Facility No. 3. He came to the Czech Republic for rest and recovery as part of the government’s MEDEVAC Humanitarian Programme.