We tell the story of a Myenchanka woman who was "in the wrong place and at the wrong time".

"Probably, the riot police stepped on the toe of a beret"

That birthday on November 5 started off wonderfully for Olga Stepanenko from Minsk.

The girl went to yoga, met her sister, friends, the girls drank tea.

And in the evening, Olga and her friend decided to go to a club.

"The club was completely filled with people.

I was from the edge of the crowd - just in the place from where the whole crowd broke in.

At first, nobody understood anything, because the music was playing very loudly.

I heard a roar, shouts - many burly men in black with lanterns on their heads burst into the club.

They set the whole space on fire, started shouting for the music to be turned off and for everyone to lie face down on the floor.

I had a shock.

I just remember that I had such thoughts: "I'm already 27, I'm so old, but there are such young people here, what's in their heads?"

And in general, what is happening here?".

It seemed to me that something strange was happening.

No one at the party expects riot police, violence.

I see that I have no nail and no blood.

And I don't remember the moment of injury to the finger.

Probably, the riot police stepped on the toe with a beret.

The girl lying next to me asks what's wrong with me.

"Lie down!" - Olga recalls that terrible evening for her.

Olga Stepanenko's finger is injured

Since there was a lot of blood, Olga was allowed to stand up and move a little to the side.

The girl, who happened to be nearby, ordered her to take off her shirt, wrapped her hand around it.

The girls went out on the porch, called an ambulance.

One of the police officers came up, recorded on video the name, surname, address where Olga lives.

She was taken to the 6th hospital.

"I had the nail phalanx of my finger amputated, my hand was put in plaster.

It was done as impersonally as possible.

The doctor asks: "Do we file as a criminal?" I answer: "I don't know.

And what do you advise me?" And the girl who received me says that she has already arranged everything, because I said that it happened in the club, when riot police broke in," the girl said.

"Do you think the riot police did it?

You could have hurt your finger yourself"

Olga's sister came to the hospital, they went home.

The girl tried to sleep there.

There was a knock at the door, there were two people behind them: one in civilian clothes, the other in a police uniform.

Olga thought: they will find out what happened.

And she was ordered to hurry up: they say, she needs to go to the police station urgently.

They promised to deliver and back home, they were polite and friendly.

"As soon as we got into the car, the atmosphere changed.

"Give me the phone."

My phone was absolutely clean by today's standards, there were no subscriptions to Telegram channels, no comments.

The person who was inspecting the phone approached a boss and disappointedly said: "There is nothing in the phone."

The atmosphere in the police station is just horrible: the stench, someone is shouting: "Let me out!" I haven't slept for more than a day, I'm tired.

A girl comes and says that I have an administrator and she needs to describe my things.

I say: "In the sense?

What kind of administrator?" Two people come in, one of them was in charge of the "operation" in the club: "Do you think the riot police did it?

You could have hurt your finger yourself"...

I was tired of it all, I didn't sleep, I was tired, I felt bad both physically and psychologically after the amputation of the phalanx... I say: "Let's go home.

I have no complaints."

And the employee says: "In any case, I need to go to the club and watch the recordings from the video surveillance cameras to figure it out."

Olga says that then she understood: it will take at least 2-3 hours, and she will have to sit in the police station.

"She shouted at the police station, did not obey, did not respond to remarks"

As a result, the girl, according to her, was placed in the "small house", where several girls from the club were already located.

An employee of the Investigative Committee came and informed that a paper had arrived from the hospital, according to which there was a crime committed by the riot police in relation to Olga.

"The investigator is mad because I can't clearly answer how it happened.

I'm already ready to give up all claims... The policeman shows me the report: administrative offense, Article 19.1, petty hooliganism.

Allegedly, I shouted at the police station, did not obey, did not respond to remarks.

This was all heard at the court: that I was a hooligan in the Leninsky Police Department.

And no one was interested in how I ended up there.

I was indignant because this is not true.

She wrote under the protocol that she disagreed.

Just some sur!"

- recalls Olga.

After Volga, the Stepanents were handcuffed, put in a "glass" in a car park and taken to Akrestyn to the ICU.

There were two beds in the cell, but there were more than 10 people in it.

"The girls gave me the upper bunks so that no one would grab my hand (I told what happened to me).

I have a picture in front of my eyes: from above I see girls laying on the floor like fish in a can.

The next day we were taken to court.

A long corridor, on one side there are alcoholics, homeless people, hooligans - it's obvious from their appearance.

And on the other hand, three young girls from the club, beautifully dressed.

One of the policemen jokes: "Girls, what are you doing here?

Do you like extreme?" And then adds: "Of course, you are not on the good list."

Olga was one of the first to be convicted.

And they gave more than everyone else - 15 days of arrest.

"You are here to suffer"

She served her term in TsIP.

There were 14 people in the cell.

At first, there were mattresses and blankets, but they were quickly taken away: they say, the girls were guilty because they sat on the blankets during the day, says Olga.

"One of the most cruel vertukhays said to our camera: "You are here to suffer."

They took away blankets, mattresses, did not turn off the light, there were inspections at night.

Employees of Akrestin are constantly cursing.

When I was sitting, I thought: "How good that there is a wall and a door between you and me."

The audience in the cell is different.

There was a girl on the third round: she did not have time to leave Akrestin, and she got a bag on her head and again 15 days.

There was a girl who was taken away from the university: she allegedly donated to Kalinowski's regiment.

And she generally does not know what it is.

There were always a couple of homeless people.

But they're also interesting good people, and I'm glad they were there.

Because if only political, the roof would go.

There was a girl, Sveta, who was never silent, carrying something from her bell tower.

We called it Radio Sveta.

When she fell silent, we again delved into this reality,

"The doctor says: 'We don't do bandages.'

And closes the "feeder"

In the certificate from the hospital, it was written that Volga needed to check the status of her tetanus vaccination, but no one did it.

Immediately after the hospital, she bought antibiotics and took them with her, because her relatives could not find her for two or three days.

"I had to have a dressing done on Tuesday.

When there was a medical visit, I told the doctor that I had an amputation of the phalanx and needed a bandage.

The doctor answers: "We don't do bandages."

And closes the "feeder".

Then we were indignant with the girls in the cell: why do you choose the profession of a doctor, if you are so indifferent to people?"

- recalls the girl.

According to the ex-prisoner, the female inmates knocked on the feeder, asked to give them dressing material so that they could make bandages for Olga herself.

As a result, the doctor handed over a piece of cotton wool on which she sprinkled a few drops of hydrogen peroxide.

“Better get out of here.

Now all recordings from video cameras are processed, faces are recognized"

Olga left Akrestin after 15 days, bought a new phone, inserted a new SIM card purchased in the name of another person.

She moved out of the apartment where she used to live.

After that, she decided to apply for a humanitarian visa from one of the EU countries.

A few days later, she got a call.

Olga says that she was convinced that it was from the visa center, because she no longer gave her new phone number to anyone.

"I hear a man's voice: "Criminal search of the Republic of Belarus.

We need to meet."

I've lost everything.

I say that I can't right now, I'm busy.

"I know where you are now", and names the area where I am.

A man meets me at the Leninsky Police Department and shows me the criminal case in which I am the victim.

He asks if I know the girl who helped me at the club.

I answer: "No".

"Do you know that she is a German citizen?".

He says that my case has reached some high-ranking police generals, and everyone is "getting together"... He asks if we are going to sort things out.

I say: "I have no complaints."

He records it on video.

And then he takes me aside and quietly advises: "You'd better go away from here.

Now all recordings from video cameras are processed, faces are recognized, people are found."

And I had a report in 2020, then I got away with a fine," sighs Olga.

The girl admits that when she came out after the arrest, she still tried to persuade herself: everything will be fine, you need to live on, everything is working in the country.

But all the same, she decided that it is better to leave than to sit down.

She came to Warsaw in January and is now looking for a job.

Searches are not easy.

In Belarus, Olga studied at the Faculty of Philosophy, worked in marketing, was a craftswoman.

"Now everything has to start from the beginning.

Is it difficult for me?

I think it is difficult in Belarus.

Prison in Akrestin is just a kind of horror.

They imprison you, lie to you, deny you medical care.

In reality, this is my case - what am I guilty of?

People have already forgotten about the dreams of 2020.

These dreams were shattered.

And no one will go anywhere.

Someone has left, someone is on "chemistry".

And in a year, all the others will be imprisoned, many will be counted and imprisoned," Olga thinks philosophically.