The Scars is a record of what is now known as the largest anti-government unrest in the history of Belarus. Massive protests started in August 2020 and left deep traces on Belarusian society. President Alexander Lukashenko and his state apparatus responded with extreme brutality to the Belarusian resistance.
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The walls of the detention centre at Okrestina Street in Minsk, Belarus. It is here that many protesters caught by the security forces were detained and tortured.
The scars left by these events, which are the subject of this project, vary in sizes and shapes. There are physical scars: bruises, abrasions, fractures. But there are also psychological scars: traumas. What is now happening in Belarus will also leave deep scars in the social fabric. A division into two Belarusian states is already emerging.
The protagonists of these photos are protesters beaten by the regime, families whose relatives have been tortured by the security services, or citizens who oppose violence and want freedom. But also teenage soldiers dragged into the middle of a conflict that was never theirs.
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Siergiey – a former soldier who was caught and beaten as he walked to a shop on the second night of the protests
Siergiey:
I was going to the shop to buy vinegar in the evening. I came back from the dacha with my wife and wanted to pickle some pickles. The road was closed, and Omon officers stood by the barriers. I asked them how to go to the store as they blocked the way. They knocked me to the ground and started striking me on the head. I was immediately covered in blood. After a few forever minutes, they told me to get up and walk but I was too weak.
Siergiey:
I managed to crawl away, but they caught up with me. They beat me on the back with batons. It made them happy. I don’t know how I got to the hospital. The children don’t know where I am. I don’t want them to see me like that. Until now, I trusted the militia.
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Daria was held in Belarusian custody for five days. Forty women were locked up in a cell where five people should be held.
Daria:
On 11 August, I left work with my colleagues. There were 10 of us. We wanted to go downtown to see what was happening, what the next protest looked like. We managed to walk several hundred metres when a blue undercover minibus cut our way. We started running away. Everyone ran to the right but I decided to go left. They caught me and immediately recognised me as the organiser. And then it started.
Daria:
I think that I did not lose my mind because there were strict rules of upbringing in my home. Since I was a child, I had to obey many dos and don’ts. That’s how my parents taught me discipline. I used to hate it but today I am grateful. I think it saved me these days. We were all beaten at the police station and Okrestino. The most memorable is probably the so-called stairs of death.

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Alexander, above, one of the detained protesters, poses for a portrait in front of the detention centre on Okrestina Street in Minsk. Alexander was going to his friend’s apartment when he was caught by the Belarusian military on the first night of the protests (10 August 2020). He spent four days in custody. He was beaten multiple times. Alexander studies at the Minsk Polytechnic.
Daria:
This is a practice used at police stations. Detainees have to climb up to the third, fourth floor, and every second step is an Omon officer or a policeman who beats and insults those who climb. They beat the boys especially, the girls were mostly insulted. How? They called us sluts, threatened they would rape us.