“My whole world has been turned upside down.”
Doctor Irina Markelova about her day of torture.
Irina Markelova is an endoscopist at the LODE Medical Center in Minsk. She was detained on Sunday, November 8th near Nemiga Street while she was walking with her friends, — Radio Svaboda writes.
“It started to rain, I opened my red and white umbrella. Immediately after my friends and I were approached by the police vans. “Men in black” coming out of the van started loading people inside, there were about 32 of us. Later we were transferred to paddy wagons with cells.
Thereafter my whole world has been turned upside down.
Inside the wagons, we started smelling something similar to gas. Everyone started coughing. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I had a laryngospasm (when your vocal cords are completely closed) it was impossible to inhale or exhale. This is when you start realizing you are going to die. It is very easy to die from asphyxiation. My neighbors started shouting that the person was bad. But no one heard because the doors were closed. Before we were taken to paddy wagons, there were other protestors there who were beaten and sprayed gas on. Some of it might have reached us.
Later we were taken to the Zavodskoi District Department of Internal Affairs. They lined us up outside facing the wall, it lasted about 10–15 minutes. Then we were taken to the assembly hall. There were people inside the assembly hall already. They all were beaten, had paint marks on their faces, their hair was cut, and some of them were limping.”
A necklace with a cross and earrings were seized from Irina. Later all the detainees were taken to Zhodino prison.
“By the prison entrance, as in the paddy wagon, there was a white-red-white flag on the floor. One woman tried not to step on the flag — she was hit.We were forced to crouch down the corridors like geese. Older people in their 60–70s were forced to crouch down too. One woman could not keep up, she said she had joint problems. The prison guard responded to her comment saying: “Get up! Because of you, now everyone will crouch down the corridors all the way to the end.” I cannot call it anything but torture!
We were stripped naked, they examined us, including feminine organs. Then we were taken to the cell. For 12 people there were 6 plank-beds. Two of us shared a bed. I was wearing a skiing suit, so sleeping on the bed didn’t hurt as much. During the night more women were brought in, we ended up having 27 of us in the 6-people cell. It was impossible to breathe. There was not enough oxygen. We were not fed for more than a day.
In the evening they brought me into the trial. My case, however, was sent back for revision and now the new trial is scheduled for November 23.”
Irina Markelova is raising an 8-year-old son. Her husband Dmitry Markelov, a surgeon at the Minsk Scientific and Practical Center for Surgery, Transplantology, and Hematology, is now in prison. He’s been sentenced to participating in the doctor’s solidarity protest. The protest was against the decision to expel students from the university for expressing their political views, which took place on November 2.
