Some Virginia Tech students might overthrow a receiver on the football field.
One Virginia Tech student has been found guilty of trying to overthrow a government.
In July, a court in Belarus found Virginia Tech doctoral student Katsiaryna Shmatsina guilty in absentia and sentenced her to 10 years in prison. Fortunately for her, she’s safe in Northern Virginia, not a gulag in Minsk. Shmatsina was one of 20 Belarusian scholars targeted by its authoritarian regime for daring to criticize the government. Those who follow the politics of the eastern European nation between Russia and Poland have said the case is an example of the regime trying to silence dissent by cutting off these analysts — many of them relatively young, and all working outside the country — from their homeland. Shmatsina is 32.
I wrote then about Shmatsina’s dramatic escape from Belarus and how she came to be a Virginia Tech student. As the year comes to a close, I checked in with her to see how she was doing. Here’s what she had to say:
My 10-year sentence has now officially entered into force. The Supreme Court reviewed the appeal and confirmed that the trial and the verdict were in accordance with the law. I, along with others involved in my case, have been added to the terrorist list by the Belarusian KGB. I receive notifications that my Belarusian bank account is frozen, then unfrozen, and then sometimes some of the money is confiscated — either because I’m on the terrorist list, or because they want to collect fees for trial-related expenses. It’s surreal: I’ll be casually scrolling through my news feed and see my name pop up in Belarusian media, labeled a “terrorist.” Or the other morning, the first notification I got was from the bank: “Good morning, your account has been blocked” — due to an outstanding balance owed to the state.
Belarusians in general need to be careful when traveling. A former volunteer who fought on Ukraine’s side was extradited from Vietnam to Belarus. The key, I think, is that he believed he wasn’t important enough for the Belarusian regime to target him abroad — but he was wrong.
I’m still on academic leave from my PhD program at Virginia Tech, focusing on my policy work. I’m a non-resident fellow at the Belarusian think tank Center for New Ideas (based in Warsaw). As I am based in D.C., I write about U.S. policies related to Eastern Europe — for the Belarusian think tank and Belarusian media. I also serve as a voice for Belarus, Russia, and developments in the region when meeting with policymakers in D.C. and diplomats. Additionally, I’m involved in diaspora work and advocacy efforts to raise awareness among policymakers about Belarus and Belarusian political prisoners.
Last but not least, my podcast is going well. And thanks to your article, I’ve received some messages from Virginia Tech alumni who listen to the podcast but didn’t know who I was. Now they’ve learned that I’m a Hokie and also a dissident.
As the year comes to a close, the U.S. State Department has reissued a previous warning that Americans should leave Belarus immediately due to “the Belarusian authorities’ arbitrary enforcement of local laws” and “the risk of detention.”
