FEMEN Return to Kyiv, Distraught and Disheveled

Three FEMEN activists have just had the experience of a lifetime while protesting in Belarus. The protest revolved around the one year anniversary of the 2010 Belarus Presidential Election, one which was internationally recognized as incredibly fraudulent. Alexander Lukashenko was declared the winner, and this subsequently led to mass protests and hundreds of arrests.

Since there are still large numbers of incarcerated protesters, three FEMEN activists, Inna Shevchenko, Oksana Sasko and Alexandra Nemchinova, traveled to Belarus's capital, Minsk, and staged a protest mocking Alexander Lukashenko on the steps of the Belarus KGB offices.

This act greatly angered someone, because shortly after they began the police arrived. All the girls fled, but one Australian, Kitty Green, journalist was captured. Kitty Green's equipment was confiscated and she was deported to Lithuania, but shortly after the protests theKGB found the three FEMEN activists and all hell broke loose.

According to the women's account, the KGB officers tied them up and blindfolded them, then threw them into a vehicle. For the next several hours the girls experienced hell. They were beaten, stripped naked, had their lives threatened at the end of a blade, had that same blade crudely cut their hair, they were doused in gasoline and again threatened that they would be lit. All the while, the entire ordeal was filmed. I have also found information that the girls were also forced to hold Nazi symbols, likely so that the Belarus authorities can properly distribute propaganda depicting FEMEN in a negative light.

The ladies are going to have a press conference later today, one which I plan on echoing below. The following are images of the three activists that were taken shortly after their arrival in Kyiv. You can plainly see how distraught the women are. The ladies just went through incredible mental anguish at the hands of the Belarus KGB.

With that said, I would like to point out how strong these women are. The majority of women, men as well, would have buckled and walked away. I am confident that this action by Belarus will not only strengthen FEMEN's resolve regarding the dictatorship currently in power there, but also cement their position around the world. The international attention that this event received, with media outlets around the world publishing updates, will help their cause immensely, all the while affirming the fact that Belarus is a country ripe for revolution.

Stay strong, Ladies. Our warmest thoughts are with you.

The following are images taken from FEMEN's livejournal page. There are countless more images that can be found throughFEMEN's Facebook.

Above is a video of the press conference that our three brave FEMEN activists held to discuss their abduction and subsequent ordeal with their aggressors. It seems that this video has been slightly edited, due to some quick transitions, but I am not sure to what extent. The following is my attempt at translating their speech into English. The transcript may not be exactly verbatim, but I have done my best in order to ensure that nothing is lost in their meaning:

Inna: Hello. It is a pleasure to see you all and thanks for your support. We returned from Belarus after holding a peaceful protest in order to assure the people of Belarus they should not be scared to come out to protest, to assure them that it is important to come outside to fight the Lukashenko regime.

We fell into the hands of some unknown people who bullied us, threatened our lives. We were told that these are the last hours of our lives and we should remember everything that happened in our lives before our meeting with them. We fell into the hands of the unknown who at first presented themselves as people from some government agency. They drove us all night in a bus where all the windows were completely covered. We fell into their hands at 7 in the evening on a platform at the Southern Bus Station.

It is unclear where these people came from, they used their strength to grab our arms and close our mouths (exactly like this) and pulled us into the bus.

Oksana: But we had previously noticed that we were being followed from the time when we left the house at which we were staying and were trying to call a taxi. By the house sat a man dressed in black. When we arrived to the Bus Station we also noticed that many men were paying attention to us, following our ever move.

When we just got out onto the platform, we got in line to get on the bus we suddenly saw 7 or 8 men who grabbed us under the arms like this and took us away. We were immediately told to be quiet. Inna began to scream and she was quickly hit in the face and we realized that there was practically nothing we could do to fight them off because not a single person at the train station paid any attention to us. On the contrary, everyone just looked away. Everyone was scared, people in Belarus are very scared to make any move to show any resistance. When they threw us into the car, we were put in the car together but we had no idea where they took Sasha [Alexandra Nemchinova]. They immediately took all our phones, all our possessions and immediately began interrogating us. Who are We? Why did we come here? What kind of organization is this? Who is financing this?

And then began the severe treatment. They tried to get us to argue with one another and separate us. They worked with us individually. They told me that Inna had sold out and gone into politics, but I was for brighter ideas. [Inna adds to this] They said that we came here in order to fulfill a political order.

Inna: They drove us around Minsk for 12 hours

Inna: At around 6 in the morning, the bus stopped in a small forest and we were told to exit one by one. As we walked out our faces were covered with hoods and our hands were tied and we were place in another bus. The bus was dark colored, we couldn't recognize the model of the vehicle or its plate number.

Oksana: We saw nothing because our heads were extremely lowered. We were seated in the car seperately. Near each of us sat a different guard. For the next 6 hours we drove around having our lives threatened. We were repeatedly told to breath because soon we would loose this ability.

Inna: We were told that we would now answer for the fact that we came to Belarus

Oksana: We were not allowed to move. For the duration of the six hours if we even tried to raise our heads or move our shoulders we were fiercely beaten.

Inna: We drove around for four or five hours and we stopped in a sparse forest and we were taken out of the bus by force with our eyes close. The people we were with were at this point wearing masks. They took us into the woods for approximately 100 meters where we were told to stop, lift our heads and remove the hoods. We were then told to remove our clothes and hold up various signs. On the signs were drawn swastikas, fascist swastikas. On the signs it was also written "One Slavic Nation". We were forced to raise these signs. We were forced ... we were told to smile and look into the camera. All this was being filmed on two cameras. Then we were told to dress. We were told that if we can't get dressed by the time we say three, you will die, immediately. We got dressed and we were then again told to undress. We were told to bow our heads and then they poured Zilonka [a greenish iodine like substance] over me and then with a knife they began to cut my hair.

Oksana: Similarly, they tied my hair, but ... [muffled]

Inna: After that, they poured motor oil all over us ...

Oksana: No, they first sprayed something from a bottle where our arms were black and our bodies red.

Inna: Then they told us to remove our underwear and turn around.

Oksana: And this was the worst moment because we realized that they were now going to rape us. They did everything in their power to give us that impression.

Inna: They beat us with sticks. They left scars ... [something difficult to understand] ... They beat us with sticks, they left scars. They ordered us to once again get dressed. Then they covered us in feathers.

Inna: After that they told us to get dressed quickly, we got dressed, and again we were forcefully thrown into the bus. In the bus we were told that if we even make a peep we will die inside the bus, they will then throw us out and bury us.

Oksana: We were also told to promise that we will never again set foot in Belarus.

Inna: The bus stopped and we were again forced to get out of the bus.

Oksana: We were pushed out, thrown out.

Inna: Our hands were tied and we thought that we were now going to be buried. We were led to a rivers embankment, and this too was all being filmed. We were taken and shown the woods, thick woods, and told that we need to go through these woods and never return. Ukraine is over there. You will need to walk 5 kilometers (Oksana: Hold to the right) and that is the territory of Ukraine. Then they drove away. We began to run through the woods, fearing that they would return. (Oksana says something, I can't make it out). We made it to a small village where only pensioners and lumberjacks live. The lumberjacks were coming back from work, we started to ask for a telephone (Oksana: Nobody had a telephone). In the entire village there turned out only two mobile phones. The people were scared because we were covered in zilonka, feathers, looked very strange and we were very frightened. They couldn't understand what was going on and many refused to approach us, were scared to talk to us. We then met a man who gave us a mobile phone. We called our Ukrainian colleagues, explained what was going on and asked for them to call the Diplomat. The women called the consulate and the Foreign Affairs office. We were then told that within 4 hours a consul member will be there. One man offered us help, he offered us a place in his home where we could get warm. He offered us tea, we began to dry our clothes and waited for the consul.

Oksana: At this point we calmed down a bit.

Inna: At that point came in some lumberjack, a huge lumberjack with hands the size of beer mugs, who started to make passes at us, and we began to realize that this man is trying to rape us.

Oksana: He got into bed with Sasha, who barely kicked him out. He then tried getting into bed with us. It was terrible.

Inna: Then rumors started to circulating around the village that the police were coming. People came to the owner of the house demanding, "Kick them out. Why do you need these problems? These are terrible people, we will all be arrested." The people were in a panic. These people were saying that if the police come to this village everyone will be arrested.

Oksana: The ordinary people are not protected at all.

Inna: The police took us to the station which was located about 70km from the village. We were forced into a hospital where a doctor checked us out. After which we were given first aid and taken back to the police station where the consul was waiting for us. The consul helped us fill out all the necessary paperwork and drove us to Ukraine. We came to Kyiv at 4am.

Inna: Now is the time where we should analyze the situation. The most important thing that we would like to say is that we do not in any way, not even for a second, regret that we were in Belarus. We now know what is going on over there, we see how scared the people are and we see that in that government the President is a freak. There exist a special organization that fulfill is whims and desires. We promise, we are already planning a second protest in Belarus. We will go to Belarus and lift their citizens. On our personal example we will show that these freaks should not be feared. Those that try to scare activists, try to scare people who want to be free.

Inna: We promise that we will go to Belarus, we will go to the people of Belarus, but this time with much more force.