Natallia Hersche was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for participating in a political protest. She speaks to Euronews about conditions and her release.
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00:00Isolating and torturous. This is how Amnesty International describes the prison conditions for political prisoners in Belarus.
00:08Belarusian opposition activist Natalia Hershe has experienced this firsthand.
00:13Now she is free again and she is fighting to ensure that the 1,400 people who are behind bars in Belarus because of their ideas are not forgotten.
00:22Euronews spoke with her at the former Stasi prison in Berlin.
00:26A prisoner exchange took place recently between Russia and Western countries.
00:31Not a single Belarusian prisoner was released.
00:35Political prisoners are the worst people for a dictatorship.
00:41Why should they be released?
00:44Because if they leave the country, they will also become active.
00:54The conditions in Belarusian prisons are harsh.
00:59Natalia had to spend 46 days in a cell one and a half meters wide because she refused to sew uniforms for the Belarusian regime.
01:24During the night, there was no bed linen, nothing cold.
01:29Maybe ten minutes with your eyes closed and then you had to get up again to warm up.
01:36During this time, I also injured my leg, it was broken.
01:42What were you allowed to do during this time?
01:46Were you allowed to do any activities, write or read?
01:50I didn't try to scream, but I sang.
01:53I wasn't alone in the cell at the time.
01:59I mean in the same building, not in the same cell with another political prisoner.
02:05And through singing we were able to express our emotions.
02:12When she sang, I cried.
02:18And when I sang, she was always sad.
02:23Were there any songs she sang?
02:26Yes, there was Kupalinka.
02:28Kupalinka is a well-known Belarusian folk song, often sung during the protests in Belarus and has become a symbol of resistance ever since.