Every year on her July birthday, my mom in Pittsburgh catches up with her childhood friend Olga, with whom she grew up in Belarus and who still lives there. Their annual catchups usually include sharing news about births of grandchildren, kids’ successes and struggles, and various health ailments. This year, however, Olga’s call was different. She had just been released from jail after serving a 10-day sentence. Her crime? Walking down the street in Minsk, in an area where security services were conducting a raid against nonviolent protesters who were promenading to show continued disapproval of the country’s repressive regime.
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