Yushkevich returned to social media: Simply overwhelmed by the level of support and solidarity. And joked about awkwardness with girls

"A month ago, after 5.5 years of imprisonment, I was told 'Pack your things' and my yellow tag was taken away. I don't have access to my old social media accounts yet, and I probably don't want to get them now. Sorry if I can't reply to someone.

No interviews will be given yet either — it's strange to ask dangerous questions to a person who doesn't know how to turn on a kettle and has never seen ChatGPT.

Getting out of prison, especially in another country, is as strong a stress as getting into prison. One of the strongest in my life. It takes a lot of time to get through it. Right now my appearance is like a hockey player's (and I'm not talking about muscles), and my psyche is like a soldier's after trench warfare. I hope this can be fixed.

For me, it felt like only half a year passed, but for you here, it's a billion lives and events. Only now have I realized that here, in freedom, including in emigration, people with families, jobs, fears, and children had it in some ways much harder than people in prison.

In prison, there's only black, gray, and white — just three colors, and almost nothing more to lose. And, probably, I was just lucky that I don't have a wife/children. Lucky that no one depends on me.

Therefore, I want to thank all those who helped and did not abandon me, despite their life difficulties. Having gotten out, I began to understand how difficult it was. Every time I get teary-eyed when I learn about letters, actions, help — and this is considering that since 2023, not a word about me (intentionally) was in the media.

Here I was pleasantly surprised (and simply overwhelmed) by the level of initial help and its competence (hello, Veronika). People in prisons, on average, don't even imagine that such help exists.

Please, don't ask people who have spent more than 5 years in prison how to help them. Firstly, they don't know the answer, and secondly, they won't ask for anything themselves. They lived by the principle "don't believe, don't fear, don't ask" for too long to change in one week.

For the last 4.5 years, I had no free time: I ran my "Giro" on paper, got some books almost from under the ground, tracked time on tasks, sometimes wrote code in a notebook. I tried to change the external environment of the prison to suit me, not to bend to it (played backgammon exactly 0 times - for those who understand), tried to preserve as much intellect and health as possible. I don't know if I succeeded. Then I was 31, and then suddenly - 37. Now there is cautious optimism inside, a desire to learn and move forward.

Thanks to everyone who helped me get here. Thanks to all my "accomplices" (except one). You weren't ashamed of me in the past, I hope you won't be ashamed in the future. Thanks to all Belarusians," Yushkevich wrote.

And at the end of his serious post, he joked:

"The awkward thing after 5 years is that you have to ask all familiar girls for their new surname. No one warned about such difficulties."

Yauhen Yushkevich is a former investigator. He was born on July 21, 1989, in Mahilyou. He graduated from the Faculty of Law of Belarusian State University, worked as a freelance investigator for the Minsk Prosecutor's Office, and then served for about five years as an investigator and senior investigator in the capital's department of the Investigative Committee. In 2017, he resigned and moved to the IT sector, becoming an Android application developer.

After resigning from the security forces, Yushkevich engaged in public activities. In 2020, he became one of the initiators of the bychange.me platform, which helped former security officers and civil servants retrain and find new jobs. He also advised security officers who wanted to resign because they did not wish to carry out orders that contradicted their convictions.

On November 24, 2020, Yushkevich was detained in Minsk in a case involving actions that grossly violated public order. After a search, he was taken into custody, but on December 4, he was released on his own recognizance. On April 19, 2021, he was detained again and charged with new accusations, including organizing mass riots. The Minsk City Court on December 26, 2022, sentenced Yushkevich to 11 years of imprisonment in a high-security penal colony. In March 2023, the Supreme Court upheld the verdict.

On September 16, 2026, Yauhen Yushkevich was released as a result of a pardon following negotiations between Belarusian authorities and US President's Special Envoy John Koole.

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