A new online project was launched before the Ice Hockey World Championship to help simplify your stay in the detention center in Akrestsin Street. Palitviazni.info talked with the creators of the website posidelki.in to see if there is a need for such resources and how Belarusians react to this idea.
The Idea
One day a group of young people remembered about the forthcoming opening of the Ice Hockey World Championship in Minsk. Jokingly, they started discussing what prisoners would like to find in their parcels, what they really would lack in the Minsk detention center and who could bring them the necessary things. Thus, the talks evolved into a global idea – a web page posidelki.in.
The website was created right ahead of the IIHF World Championship and was launched in late April. At that time, the preventive arrests of activists had not yet begun.
Posidelki.in team: When communicating with those who show active life position and you hear from them: “Ah! The champ’s coming, what will happen? Should we leave or hide from the authorities?” Then you, too, cannot help thinking about it, and the idea appears by itself, as everyone can be put behind bars in our country.
How does the website work?
The main idea of the site is that the activists and ordinary Belarusians fill in a special questionnaire.
The activist’s task: fill in the form, including the name, the contacts of a person (lawyer), who will be contacted in case of detention, the list of things needed in prison.
The posidelki.in team’s task: learn from the media about the activist’s detention, make his profile active and visible on the site, find the contact person and inform him or her about the contents of the parcel.
Creators of the site could themselves collect and send the parcels, but unfortunately, because of the rules on the detention center, it is a difficult task.
Today, there are not so many completed questionnaires on posidelki.in. The team explains this fact by a late launch and insufficient advertising of the website, human mistrust and paranoia, as well as the reluctance to post personal information on the Internet.
Posidelki.in team: We recommend filling out a form to even such prominent figures as Dashkevich, because when the activist is detained again, the appearance of his profile on the site will help attract people’s attention to the problem of illegal arrests.
Feedback
The creators of posidelki.in have not heard any negative comments about their work. When telling their friends and acquaintances about their new hobby, those were happy or perceived it with irony.
Posidelki.in team: Those who have never been in the Akrestsin Street prison usually view this subject lightly, jokingly. They say, why should I leave my wishes, contact details, if I will be provided with everything I need, anyway? Unfortunately, it does not always work out the way we want it.
What next?
The website team are convinced that even if filling in a questionnaire may seem pointless, one should remember about the future. Because the presidential election of 2015 is near at hand!
Posidelki.in creators admit that after the World Championship the site can “sleep” for a while, but after that a new wave will come, and the page will regain popularity and will be in demand.
The posidelki.in team is a group of active young people who are not members of political associations, but they know what is happening in their country.
