After participating in the 2020 protests, the court sentenced Anton to a year and a half in prison. For Katerina, the prosecutor also demanded imprisonment, but three years of restriction of freedoms - the so-called "home chemistry" - was still imposed.
During the first year of probation, Katerina had three violations. In January 2023, after being arrested during a KGB raid for receiving financial assistance from the INeedHelp charity initiative, Katerina was threatened with a prison sentence instead of the restriction of freedom - "home chemistry". As a result, the family was forced to urgently leave Belarus to avoid further persecution.
In an interview with the human rights organization "Viasna", Katerina shared details about the conditions of "home chemistry", about the controversial violations recorded by inspectors, about the day spent in the detention center in Smolevichy, and about the surveillance of people in the so-called "home chemistry" with the help of CCTV and facial recognition systems on the streets.
Katerina connects the tightening of conditions in the spring of 2023 with the events in Machulishchi, when a Russian A-50 military airplane was damaged. As a result of these events, the "chemists" were limited to one hour a day on the street. For Katerina, who lives in a village 12 kilometers away from Smolevichi, this meant that even going to the store became a challenge, as she had to spend half an hour on the road, while only one hour was given to leave the house.
You can read more about the story of Katerina and Anton on the website of the Belarusian human rights organization "Viasna".
