Last-Leggers
- 14.02.2025, 11:09
Just like in the Gulag.
A camp slang word from Stalin's era has returned. When we spoke with Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk after her release about the women still held in the Zarechcha prison colony, she said: "Volha Mayorava was turned into a last-legger. She was added to the list of terrorists, so she no longer receives a pension, and her son cannot send her money transfers – 'terrorists' cannot transfer money."
In the 1930s, in the Gulag, the term "last-leggers" was initially used to refer to those who did not receive parcels from the outside. Surviving on the "standard" ration while working in a mine, logging site, or quarry was nearly impossible. Those who received no support—such as prisoners whose entire families had been repressed and had no one to assist them—quickly became severely emaciated, succumbed to scurvy and pellagra, and were constantly at risk of death. Over time, the term came to refer to all emaciated prisoners, regardless of whether they received parcels, as years in the camps left nearly everyone in that state. And now, in our time, in a European country, prisoners in colonies—praised by propagandists for their supposedly excellent conditions—are once again becoming last-leggers. They can't even buy garlic or apples in the canteen because they are banned from receiving transfers.
Volha Mayorava is one of them. According to Viasna HRC, there are more than 300 political prisoners included in the list of terrorists. For example, activist and blogger Pavel Vinahradau. He fell ill with tuberculosis in prison. Tuberculosis is exhaustion without a list of terrorists. Patients need meat, vegetables and fruits, fish, liver and much more. But if you are on the list of terrorists – forget about fruit, forget about cooking. Vinahradau lost 36 kilograms during his illness. But instead of a hospital bed, he went to jail. Contrary to the Gulag tradition, Pavel survived and left the colony and the prison regime.
There are entire families on the terrorist list. For example, Viktar, Anastasiya, Uladzislau and Volha Vaitsiakhovich. Husband and wife, son and daughter-in-law. They were arrested in the case of a mythical 'Belarusian-Turkish-Polish-Ukrainian' criminal organization, which was supposed to carry out 'extremist crimes' in our country. A dozen and a half people were in the dock, and the younger Haidukevich testified in court, claiming that the accused had allegedly attempted to set his house on fire. However, Haidukevich was not even recognized as a victim – a witness only. Volha and Anastasiya received 11 years in prison, Viktar – 19, and Uladzislau – 21 years. The whole family is behind bars, parcels are prohibited, and who will send them anything if everyone is in prison? In such conditions, you will become reachable very quickly and you will not even notice. The same goes for the family of the Orthodox priest Siarhei Rezanovich, who was arrested together with his wife and son in the case of Mikalai Autukhovich. The family received sentences ranging from 15 to 19 years.
In the same situation, Inna and Valeryia Hlinskaya, mother and daughter, who worked at MTBank and were convicted of transferring data of security forces to the "Black Book of Belarus". And Viktoryia Damastoi became a 'terrorist' only because she transferred money to political prisoners in the pre-trial detention center and was arrested during the "lucky raid" of the KGB. The trial of Viktoryia is still underway, but at the end of January, the KGB had already put her on the list of terrorists. She transferred money to strangers, no one will transfer it to her.
The terrorist list includes Alena Lazarchyk and Volha Brytsikava, Mikalai Autukhovich and Andrzej Poczobut, Ihar Alinevich and Andrei Liubetski. A total of 306 political prisoners are 'terrorists'. I wonder if there really were three hundred terrorists in Belarus, would they not have blown up Drazdy residences and the Palace of Independence? In general, the terrorists in Belarus seem to be the wrong kind – journalists, dentists, trade union activists.
By the way, if tomorrow Lukashenka decides to release them all for the sake of the experiment, nothing will end for them. Because after release – mandatory registration in the penitentiary inspection or preventive supervision and the requirement to get a job. And no one will hire those who are on the terrorist list. Even if a compassionate housing service manager is willing to hire someone to sweep the streets, he won't be able to do so. Because 'terrorists' are forbidden to have a bank account, which means that it is impossible to pay them. No one will hire a separate accountant-cashier to work with cash for the sake of one person. So even after liberation, 'terrorists' are doomed to remain last-leggers.
But surely there, in the dungeons, in prisons and colonies, our "terrorists" read the memoirs of the Gulag prisoners. For some inexplicable reason, these books are still in prison libraries. And they help our prisoners survive. After all, those books were written by the last-leggers of the Gulag, who survived, were released, survived to rehabilitation, to the fall of the Soviet regime and to the publication of their memoirs. These books are uncensored letters from prisoners of the past to our heroes: hold on, brothers, you will win.
Iryna Khalip, especially for Charter97.org