The Marek Karp Centre for Eastern Studies in Warsaw has published Archipelag Białoruś. Relacje byłych więźniów politycznych (“Archipelago Belarus: Testimonies of Former Political Prisoners”). The book was presented today at the Pilecki Institute.
The publication documents the defining features of Belarus’s repressive system.
The book opens with an essay by Andrzej Poczobut (Andrei Pachobut), who provides a documentary-style account of Belarus’s contemporary penal system. The remaining testimonies were collected and recorded at the request of the Centre for Eastern Studies between 2025 and 2026.
The thirteen testimonies of former political prisoners present the full range of experiences and reflect the suffering of thousands of other innocent people who spent years behind bars for defending their fundamental rights.
Comparing the current situation with 2013, when his book System Belarus was published, Andrzej Poczobut said that “there is now far more repression in the regime’s actions than the ‘carrots’ it once had to offer society.”
“On the other hand, the role of the Security Council has grown significantly. But that process had already begun before 2020,” he added at the beginning of the discussion.
The moderator asked Poczobut to describe the people working in Belarusian prisons.
“All of them are ready to carry out any order. Some of them enjoy it, while others simply chose this job because it guarantees their future and gives them the feeling that they are on the side of the strong,” the journalist replied.
He said he had never witnessed a case where someone refused to carry out an order.
“Some of them even expressed sympathy toward me. But I was never completely sure whether it was genuine or simply part of some kind of game,” he added.
Among those attending the presentation were Paval Mazheika, whose story is included in the book, former Belsat director Agnieszka Romaszewska-Guzy, who wrote the analytical afterword and conducted several interviews for the publication, and Kamil Kłysiński, co-author of the afterword.
Archipelag Białoruś. Relacje byłych więźniów politycznych is available on the Centre for Eastern Studies website. An English translation is planned.
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