"And we had more than a four-hour conversation. There were people in the square who didn't understand what was going on. Many people thought we had been arrested, taken out the back door and put in police custody. People are rioting. The meeting itself went well. I was satisfied - the authorities couldn't object. After all, there was a man sitting at the table who had been beaten for a week - his face was twisted, bruised. And that was the work of your people. They said, 'We didn't give the orders.' And they didn't. 'Then find out who gave them,' I said. We stated the facts about electoral fraud. The conversation got heated.
Frankly, I felt euphoric at the time: the authorities had been vindicated in front of the people. Justified! And when we came out... I don't remember if there was a megaphone, but I - like Lenin once did from an armored car - spoke to the crowd from the porch of the regional executive committee. I told them what had happened there, what the authorities said. And I was sure: we had won."
"I was detained in Minsk, they wanted to accuse me of organising the explosion in the metro. It was a double feeling for me. I was scared - because in this country I could have been shot, and in the best case someone would open the archives after fifty years and find that I was innocent. On the other hand, it's funny. What kind of moron are you, what have I got to do with it? I said to the investigator, 'What am I doing here?' 'Well, you're an opponent of the authorities.' 'But an opponent of the authorities is someone who fights for power. I'm not fighting for power. I'm fighting for human rights - for any power to respect them. I don't care if it's Lukashenko, Petrenko, Ivanov, Sidorov. But you are from Vitebsk.' 'There are 360,000 of us there. Why me?' 'You're a soldier, you served in the bomb squad.' 'Well, yes, the sappers mine and demine. Basically, he's arguing logically.' 'That's right,' I said."
"I don't know how my body stood it - sometimes malnutrition, information flow... If we talk about the beginning of my activity, it was in 2003. And at the beginning of 2007 I was subjected to the first repression by the state. I was arrested at 3:30 at night in front of the entrance to my own house. I got out of my car and had only 15 metres to walk to the entrance, but I was thrown into the snow. I was charged with petty hooliganism - allegedly using bad language. Is that funny? I wasn't laughing at the time. Everything was organised so that the arrest took place on a Saturday evening and on Sunday there were local elections. I was the coordinator of election observation in the Vitebsk region. The authorities had to somehow remove the coordinator on the day of the elections."
Pavel Isakovich Levinov (born April 15, 1961 in Vitebsk, former BSSR) is a Belarusian human rights activist, public figure, and former soldier. He is known for his work with the Belarusian Helsinki Committee and his struggle for human rights in Belarus. He was born into a Belarusian-Jewish family where Judaism was not supported. He spent his childhood in a community centre in Vitebsk. In his youth he liked sports and was a member of the Komsomol. After graduating from technical school, he completed compulsory military service in the Soviet Army’s engineer army (1981-1983), where he fought against bullying. After his compulsory military service he remained as a supernumerary and was promoted to the rank of ensign. In 1985, he uncovered a corrupt plan to send troops to Afghanistan that led to the suicide of one of the officers. Since 2001, he has served on the Belarusian Helsinki Committee. He was an election observer and defended the rights of victims of political repression. He has been arrested repeatedly: in 2007 for election observation; in 2008 for attempting to document searches; in 2011 on false charges of organising a terrorist attack. In 2019, he survived an attempted murder - the brakes on his car were deliberately damaged. In 2020, he participated in negotiations with authorities during protests. In 2021, he was forced to emigrate after searches and threats of arrest. He lives in Germany where he continues his human rights work.
His wife Taisia died in a car accident in 2003.
