"Vitebsk Spring" continues to acquaint readers with the conditions of stay in temporary detention facilities. Journalist Artem Sizintsev covered spring protests and trials of their participants not only in his native Vorša, but also in Mahiloŭ and Viciebsk. Law enforcement officials evaluated the activity of the reporter – he was detained on March 25 for Freedom Day in Viciebsk. The court appointed Artem to 10 days of arrest.

Before reporting directly on the conditions of detention in the Viciebsk ITT, Artem Sizintsev shared his thoughts about the protest actions of Spring-2017 and the role of journalists who dared to cover these actions. Although in the cycle "I and IVS" we usually focus only on the conditions of detention in IVS, avoiding other details, this time we decided to make an exception and publish a rather long prologue of the author, as it well reflects the atmosphere of the spring protests, as a result of which dozens People were imprisoned by IVS.

When the action began to lift the decree on the so-called "parasites", I suspected that the pressure would not only be on ordinary Belarusians who "dared" to go out and express their disagreement to the authorities; Not only on politicians who will join the storm of emotions and try to activate their party members; Not only on human rights defenders, who, of course, understand that by defending citizens, they themselves are under attack. I clearly understood that pressure will be exercised on journalists, me and my colleagues who "have the arrogance" to cover the actions.

There are no speeches about pro-government reporters. Operators and correspondents of various "Belarus-1", ONT and local "pocket" channels did not interfere with any work, and they protested for their part, not giving much to people. Their reports were built around the fact that not everything in our state is perfect, but here you are – another "head with language" from some Ministry of Labor or from the stock exchange for hiring workers. This head assures that part of the Belarusians, which has not yet permanently turned off state television, is that the problems with employment will be resolved in the coming week.

The materials of independent journalists were completely different. I will speak for myself. I worked on a number of actions in Viciebsk and Mahiloŭ, I did materials for Radio Ratia. In Vorša, police did not work for me, who came to the apartment just on the morning of the March of the Non-Monkeys and began to conduct a search, which, of course, ended in vain, just as the stock was coming to an end. The words in my materials were given to both representatives of the authorities and protesters. It was clearly indicated, what exactly people are dissatisfied with.

So I described the situation in detail so that readers would understand that detentions, fines, even a day of imprisonment were not a shock for journalists. If you choose such a path and follow it, you must understand the dislike of the present Belarusian state for democracy and human rights.

The insult to the rights of the individual was immediately apparent in the temporary detention facility, in which I served 10 days of absurd administrative arrest.

Restroom? Enough old rusty piece of pottery, which was once a toilet. A fence so that you will not be seen? Everything is open. Flushing? We make a drain of water on the hose from the washbasin. What does it matter that there is a stink around the clock, the pressure of water is not enough, everything is old and rusty. Prisoners in Belarus are not people, but animals.

Plus, smokers are put with those who do not smoke. I do not smoke, but in the cell you do not order a cellmate to not smoke, because in that case he will simply become mad without his bad habit.

A special conversation about nutrition. It was clear that you would not get vitamins. But in Viciebsk IVS they managed to be worse than some other isolators, as I can judge from the stories of those who were in other cities.

Porridge on the water, without salt, the same bread cutlet every day! No – even undercooked – potatoes, but only pearl barley, buckwheat. They are prepared in such a way that even a first-year student who first took a pan in his hand and stood by the stove will make a porridge more tasty than this.

And those bread cutlets often differed in size, there were also very small, apparently with a decrease in the norm.

Tea? One laughter. While the big tub was driven along the floor, the tea managed to cool down and was usually delivered to the chambers, as a rule, already cold. You're drinking sweet, sweet little warm water, and you are digging money for the content against you.

Obviously, tea, which is prescribed in official documents, is prescribed there hot and quality. Like other food – cutlets on paper, certainly meat. According to the documents, I have no doubt that everything is perfect, otherwise, why do we pay 11 rubles 50 kopecks for one day of maintenance?

Cutlets cutlets, and soup – and generally slops, which you can eat only in order not to lose strength.

The only delicious food in the prison is bread. It always comes out fresh. But other food, devoid of vitamins and cooked horribly, crosses out everything.

To call – they give, for this you need only write an application in the morning.

And you can shower once a week. There were no problems here, I was provided with these services at my request.

But letters often do not reach. After leaving the detention center, I met several people who asked why I did not answer them. I said that, firstly, I did not receive their letters, and secondly, I did not have envelopes – they still need to be given separately in the programs. Where did the letters go, at what stage were they "circumcised"? Either the mail works so badly, whether they fly out on the run from the mail machine, or they were "rejected" in the isolation censorship – a question.

The bunks are unsteady, the boards on them are cracked in some places. Mattresses are issued so old that it is impossible to sleep on them, the internal filler is knocked off by lumps, it is not possible to level it.

In the cells there is no daylight. At least in those where I sat. The windows were provided, but in the Viciebsk ITT they were laid with metal sheets so that no light could penetrate. Therefore, 24 hours a day in the chamber, artificial light burns. When you read and write in such conditions, you spoil your eyes.

They walk out for a walk, but more often when the guards themselves want it. The guards are policemen, they behave differently. There are those with whom you can agree to go for a walk in 30 minutes, and there are those who spit on all your words and say with an ugly smile on the well-fed face: "Today there will not be a walk."

Often the guards in the prison cell beat the door with their fists as soon as they saw that you were leaning on your elbow when reading. The cry "Do not sleep!" Looks ridiculous – after all, you really read, your eyes are open, but the militiaman needs to prove himself before the authorities, to satisfy some complexes left over from childhood.

But the last days in the prison were remembered by the fact that they finally turned on a more or less acceptable radio, on which retro songs were played. Until then, there were radio stations with pop music – it was endlessly repeated, and the news blocks were prepared there so that on normal radio the newsman would be out of work after a couple of such issues.