"I can't escape her anywhere." The story of Marfa Rabkova and Nasta Loika's friendship

In a colony where letters might not reach, meetings were forbidden, and a simple gesture of support could lead to a report, sometimes a single glance through a window was enough to endure another day.

Human rights defenders Marfa Rabkova and Nasta Loika met ten years ago. Initially, Nasta helped Marfa, who herself faced criminal prosecution. Then they together supported other political prisoners and their families. After Marfa's arrest, Nasta sent her letters and news. Two years later, Nasta herself ended up behind bars.

In the colony, the friends met again. There, Nasta waited for Marfa by the window, Marfa prayed "to all gods" for Nasta to be released from the PKT (Punishment Cell Type facility), and other inmates searched all over Europe for Nasta's dog, Erik. They were released on the same day - just as Marfa had once predicted.

The girls told their story during a meeting in Vilnius.

How it all began

They met in 2016. Nasta worked in the public reception office of the Human Rights Center "Viasna", and Marfa was an activist and a defendant in her first criminal case as a suspect.

Initially, they only corresponded. Marfa recounted what was happening to her, and Nasta explained the possible consequences and legal prospects. Later, they met in person, began to cross paths in courts and while helping other people. Their professional acquaintance gradually grew into friendship.

Marfa recalls that it was Nasta who once brought her into the human rights movement:

— She told me: "Listen, there's a seminar, shall we go?" I replied: "Let's go, it's very interesting." One seminar, then another, a third - and you see what happened: here I am in the Human Rights Center "Viasna".

In 2016, when Marfa was struggling, Nasta became one of those who extended a helping hand to her. Marfa says she didn't forget this even behind bars, and didn't allow KGB and colony staff to convince her that Nasta was supposedly a "bad person":

— No matter how many fables and legends they told me about Nasta, I said: "I don't care." For me, she is a wonderful person, and I will never disown her. She helped me when it was hard, and I will remember that always.

Павялічыць

Dog from the shelter

Another bond appeared in their friendship - the dog Erik. Marfa volunteered at an animal shelter for homeless animals near Minsk. When Nasta decided to adopt a dog in 2017, it was Marfa who helped her choose Erik, introduced them, and supported them during the first months of adaptation.

A few years later, Erik would unexpectedly become known to almost the entire Homel women's colony. But first, there was joint human rights work, courts, and parcels for other inmates.

"Everyone knows I'm going to wave to Nasta"

On September 17, 2020, Marfa Rabkova was detained. Nasta clearly remembers the next day: they had to find lawyers, gather parcels, find out where Marfa was and what was happening to her.

For a while, they were still allowed to correspond. Nasta wrote to her friend and sent news that might interest her. Later, this possibility was almost completely taken away.

Nasta next saw Marfa in May 2022 in court. The trial was on a case in which several people were tried along with Rabkova. The human rights defenders then made T-shirts that said "Dobby is a free elf."

Marfa entered the courtroom, unbuttoned her shirt, and showed that she had the same T-shirt underneath:

— It was very nice, — Nasta recalls.

Павялічыць

After that, the process was made closed. The next meeting took place on September 6, 2022, when Marfa's sentence was announced. After the sentence, Nasta was already detained. First, she spent 30 days under administrative arrest, and soon after, a criminal case was initiated against her.

At Valadarka (pre-trial detention center), Marfa accidentally overheard in the corridor that Loika was being called, and managed to send her greetings through a lawyer. Nasta then managed to pass a note to Marfa. They tried to see each other through the peephole.

The friends truly met during their transfer to the Homel colony. In the colony, they were assigned so that for some time they worked on the same shift and could talk almost every day. But they still didn't have enough time, so they also corresponded.

Marfa recounts that Nasta continued to teach her about human rights. They discussed human rights activities, public campaigns, and books. Marfa recalls a conversation about the history of indigenous peoples of America and a man who fought for the right to represent himself in court at a time when his people were not even perceived as equal human beings.

— It was a breath of freedom for me. There was a person nearby who understood me and with whom I could discuss all of this, — says Marfa.

When the friends were separated into different units and shifts, they began to look for other ways to see each other. Initially, Nasta noticed Marfa every morning in the dining room window. Later, her unit was located so that from the window one could see the road between the factory and the living area.

Nasta waited for Marfa's brigade to leave work and showed her a heart with her palms. Marfa waved back.

Other inmates warned: you can't behave like that when you're in a column, someone might report it to the administration.

— I said: "Listen, everyone knows I'm going to wave to Nasta. If you go and tell the administration that Marfa is waving to Nasta, no one will be surprised. So you can go and report," — Marfa laughs.

Sometimes the friends managed to pass short notes to each other. Nasta gave one of them to Marfa at the factory. Marfa hid the note in her bra, but it fell out on the way.

Marfa couldn't sleep: she was afraid that the paper would be found by staff and Nasta would be punished because of it. Then she began to pray for rain.

— When I lay there and heard raindrops drumming on the roof, I thought: "Thank God, now this note will get wet and no one will read it," — she recalls.

"A piece of my heart flew into the PKT"

One of the hardest moments for Marfa was the day Nasta was sent to the Punishment Cell Type facility for six months. Both were supposed to have a disciplinary commission on the same day. Marfa was called in the morning, but Nasta was not. The friends even had time to rejoice: they thought her commission was postponed and, perhaps, the attitude towards political prisoners was beginning to change.

They were working nearby when Nasta was finally called. Marfa saw her go, and then waited for her friend to return. But Nasta didn't come. Soon it became known: six months in PKT.

— This completely knocked me down. It was very sudden. Usually, when they give a punishment, you can at least make some logical chain. But why she was given six months in PKT, I still don't know, — says Marfa.

Up to that point, she tried never to show the administration that she was having a hard time. But this time, she had no strength left to hide her feelings:

— I said: "Listen, I'm so tired that I won't even cover myself up in front of you anymore. I don't know why you're doing this, but for me, it's like a piece of my heart flew into this PKT."

Shortly before the transfer, Nasta gave her a drawing of Ganesha - the Hindu god of wisdom and prosperity. Marfa often looked at it and thought of her friend:

— I said that I would pray to all gods for Nasta to be released faster. And I promised: if she is released after these six months, I will buy myself a small Ganesha statue. Well, now I'll have to get one. 

The entire time Nasta was in PKT, Marfa thought about whether her friend would get out and in what condition. When Nasta was finally transferred back, they were allowed to meet.

Marfa was called from the factory, without any explanation. She walked through the yard and suddenly heard Nasta's voice. They saw each other - and for the next ten minutes, they simply hugged.

When the staff later asked Marfa how she was doing, she no longer hid anything:

— Look at me. I'm satisfied, everything is fine. I saw my beloved Nastachka, so life exists, it continues.

Павялічыць

Once, Nasta, as an employee of "Viasna," explained to Marfa what to do after her first criminal case. In the colony, their roles seemed to have swapped.

— Marfa was my main lawyer and support inside the colony, — says Loika.

"Nasta, Erik is alive!"

In the colony, the staff tried to find the inmates' weak spots. For Nasta, such a spot was Erik — the very dog from the shelter that Marfa had once helped her choose.

Erik was in the Czech Republic, and the security forces began to convince Nasta that the dog had died. This was not a single accidental conversation. According to Loika, for about a month, an operative came almost every other day and repeated:

— What, your dog hasn't died yet? What, do you love your dog more than your mother? You managed to take your dog out of the country, but not your mother?

The false news was first reported to Marfa. Apparently, the calculation was that information received from a close friend would sound more convincing to Nasta. Marfa didn't know it was a lie and passed on what she heard to Nasta.

Nasta understood that the staff might be lying, but she couldn't completely dismiss what she heard: the news came through Marfa, whom she trusted. Moreover, letters arrived with long delays, and some information didn't reach her. Nasta began to doubt and eventually asked her relatives not to hide the truth from her in their letters.

When her mother received this letter and understood what was happening, she urgently sent a telegram and photos: Erik was alive. But by then, almost the entire colony was already involved in the search for information. Nasta asked women who were going on visits for their relatives to find out about the dog. For the next two to three months, inmates approached her and told her: Erik was fine. Some relatives even sent his photos.

One day, as Nasta was walking in the courtyard, a window opened on the second floor of one of the units. Natallia Dulina leaned out and shouted:

— Nasta, Erik is alive!

The security forces wanted to use the dog to hurt Nasta, but instead, they triggered a wave of solidarity.

— I felt myself in a very good environment of people who were ready to support me. They didn't separate me from my dog. Erik became the most famous dog in the entire colony, — says Nasta.

"We are all different, but we must be together"

The word "sisterhood" was almost not used in the colony, according to Nasta. Women called themselves political or "yellow ones" — because of the yellow tags with which the administration marked people placed on preventive surveillance.

And relations in different units developed differently — it all depended on the people who ended up there. But Nasta tried to repeat:

— We are all different, but we are prisoners. We must be together.

Павялічыць

Marfa and Nasta say that behind bars, they never stopped being human rights defenders. They observed and collected information, helped other women draft statements and complaints, and tried to protect the sick, elderly, and pregnant women from SHIZA (punishment cell). But they call human treatment the simplest form of human rights work.

— People there are so broken, so heavily branded, that the very recognition of them as human beings changes something. When you address people with respect, they start treating you differently too. We were all equal in the conditions we were in, — Marfa explains.

One birthday and one day of liberation

Marfa and Nasta were born on the same day — January 6, only six years apart. In the colony, Marfa often told her friend:

— You'll see: we'll be released on the same day. We'll have another shared birthday.

Nasta didn't believe it. And it was hard to believe: Marfa was sentenced to 14 years and 9 months, Nasta to seven years.

The day before her release, Nasta was called for another conversation with the administration. She didn't yet know that tomorrow they would both be free. But she first spoke not about herself, but about Marfa.

— Marfa has already been imprisoned for five and a half years! How much longer? — she told the officer.

He just shrugged. And the very next day, March 19, 2026, Marfa Rabkova and Nasta Loika were released together and taken out of Belarus. When they saw each other, Marfa immediately reminded her:

— See, I told you we'd be released on the same day.

Now they can sit together again, drink tea, and talk as much as they want. No more waiting for a brigade by the window, hiding notes in clothes, or making a heart with their palms while looking out for staff.

— Nasta is some integral component of my life, — Marfa smiles. — She always follows me, always walks somewhere nearby — through good and through bad. We even got released together. And now we're sitting here together, and I can't escape her anywhere.

Now they want to be seen not just as former political prisoners. Marfa reminds: she is just a girl born in Dobrush, Nasta is a girl from Minsk. They love some things, dislike others, and have a life that is not limited by their prison experience. 

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