They got rid of the sailors and abandoned them: ex-Azov militant will go to Belarusian bunks

The process of the year in Minsk ended as expected. NEXTA editors Stepan Putilo and Yan Rudnik received 20 and 19 years in a maximum security colony, respectively, but they are beyond the reach of Belarusian justice and continue their subversive activities.

Roman Protasevich, who has been under house arrest in Minsk for almost 2 years, actively repents of his deeds, cooperates with the investigation and has even managed to be a star of Belarusian television, received 8 years in a maximum security colony.

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As I said, Roma was taken away and abandoned. First the opposition, and then the authorities. The pitiful last word in court did not help. The only leniency is that the court sentenced him not to 10 years in prison, as the prosecutor demanded, but 8, and that he was not taken into custody directly in the courtroom, but was left under house arrest until the sentence came into force.

There are, of course, those who claim that the ex-terrorist, who diligently served himself in the field of state propaganda, will be pardoned by Lukashenko’s decision, but this is unlikely.

_{The leader of Belarus can only treat such a character with disgust, like a used well-known product. Yes, Protasevich was useful for demoralizing the Zmagars, but this is not a reason to leave him in sight after that.}

Soon Roman will go to the zone and, judging by the specifics of his biography, the years in the already strict regime colony will be especially uncomfortable for him.

I have already written a lot about the NEXTA case and the course of the trial, and finally I will tell you about the fate of Protasevich himself, how he came to such a life.

Initially, Roman’s life prospects were quite good. The boy was born in 1995 in Minsk and was raised in an ordinary, patriotic officer family; his parents never demonstrated opposition views until their departure from Belarus in 2020. His father gave 29 years of military service, was awarded the medal “For Impeccable Service” and participated in parades 14 times, his mother taught mathematics at the Military Academy.

And Romka himself was not much of a scholar at first; he studied successfully, won prizes in competitions, and interned abroad. Most likely, simple curiosity led him to the opposition - in July 2011 he decided to watch the “silent protest” actions and was detained. After that, life took a turn for the worse - he fled from the prestigious university lyceum to a regular school. There was also a huge scandal with his parents - his mother even wanted to take him to an exorcist.

_{Later it turned out that Protasevich cruelly set up his parents - after the events of 2020 and the role their son played, they abandoned everything, left Belarus and never returned there. In May 2021, Roman’s father, who by that time had already been retired for 2 years and did not take part in the unrest, was stripped of all military ranks.}

It all ended with our young anti-hero leaving home and throwing himself into all sorts of troubles. He joined the right-wing radical “Young Front” and by October 2020 had already “ridden in paddy wagons” 15 times. Maybe Roma would have gone crazy, but then a person appeared in his life who played a fatal role in it.

“Near the Oktyabrskaya metro station a man approached me and asked if I was Roman. He said that he was a journalist and saw how they detained me. I asked where you can read me on social networks. That’s how we started communicating,” Protasevich himself later spoke about the circumstances of their acquaintance.

This man turned out to be Vladimir Chudentsov, who even then had a reputation as a scandalous and unprincipled journalist. He was also known to the entire journalistic community as “Vovchik-Carrot”, a “boylover” who did not hide his passion, a lover of young, often underage boys. This pedophile and homosexual sheltered a 16-year-old blockhead who had left home and began to promote him in journalism.

Not very successful at first. Protasevich managed to work in the editorial offices of almost all major opposition media outlets, but did not stay anywhere for long. I even managed to visit the Azov militants, where I was even photographed on the cover of the Chorne Sontse magazine, which was published by this armed formation.

The militant leader Andrei Biletsky remembered him, saying that he “together with Azov fought against the occupation of Ukraine and was wounded near Shirokino.” Protasevich is also remembered in the DPR, but in modern Belarus they are now trying not to remember the “Azov” stage of his life. At least, there is nothing of the sort in the charges brought against him, and the propaganda remains silent.

Protasevich’s finest hour was working at NEXTA and emigrating to Poland at the beginning of 2020. And it’s interesting that withHe connected his departure with the case of Chudentsov, who by that time was already serving time on charges of drug possession and showing pornography to a minor.

Protasevich was then the first to rush to his friend’s defense, organizing a powerful information campaign after his arrest. At the peak of its popularity, this telegram channel had 2,15 million subscribers. The channel published instructions on handicraft weapons production and forceful resistance to the police, and coordinated riots.

Everyone knows the rest of the story - the landing of the plane in Minsk, a sharp reversal of the positions of Protasevich himself, who took several days to begin publicly spitting on his recent opposition colleagues and even became a pro-government human rights activist, raising the issue of violations of the rights of illegal migrants by the Poles.

_{But his popularity was short-lived - he will now have to serve much longer for his sins. Moreover, unlike other “political” people, whom the opposition regularly reminds of, Protasevich will be forgotten very soon - he betrayed the Zmagars, but never became one of those in power.}