A Stairway to Heaven: the story of Siarhei Shelest
- Salidarnast Belarus
- Apr 9
- 4 min read
Today, there are 29 union leaders and activists lingering in Belarusian prisons. “Saldarnast” continues with its cycle of publications telling the stories of some of them.
…At the end of September 2020, the white-red-white flag appeared flying at the top of the TV tower in Hrodna. Of course, the authorities were quick to remove it from its 500 feet above the town. And the two men who had put it there were given ten days of arrest. Later on, Siarhei Shelest and Andrei Pageryla would be sentenced to 14 years in prison.
“I met Siarhei Shelest in 2020”, says the International Secretary of the Belarusian Independent Mining, Chemical, Oil Refining, Transport, and General Workers’ Union (BNP) Lizaveta Merliak in her interview to “Salidarnast”. “My workplace was the BNP office at the Hrodna Azot fertilizer plant, and it was the plant where Siarhei worked.
Then, we had a lot of workers coming to us to join the Independent Union. And one day, Siarhei, too, appeared in our office together with his friend Andrei Pageryla; p0eople saw them both as heroes after the flag action. Although, their older colleagues would tell them that they had to take care of themselves and be more prudent.
Naturally, all ten days of their arrest Siarhei and Andrei were absent from work and then they returned to the plant. However, they didn’t stay long because they joined a strike action on October 26 and were fired for that. Notably, their absence from work – exactly during the days the spent under arrest – was quoted as the official reason for their dismissal.
“By the way, this was one of the first times when the new Article of the Labour Code was applied. Before, an administrative arrest was seen as a valid reason for absence but after the Code was amended it was no longer so.
“Siarhei’s and Andrei’s dismissals were backdated. And we as representatives of the Independent Union assisted them in court where they fought their unlawful dismissal.
“That same year, the “Rabochy Rukh” initiative was launched to unite workers, including union and strike movement leaders and activists.
The former Hrodna Azot worker and Chair of the plant’s Strike Committee Yuri Ravavoi remembers:
“I met Siarhei when we were setting up the strike committee at Hrodna Azot. By that time, he was already an activist with the Independent Union. He was a man of a big, open soul and an acute sense of fairness. He would convince his colleagues that, given the developments in Belarus, one should not remain silent and climb a fence. And he and I were “Rabchy Rikh” participants till the moment Siarhei was arrested.”
Siarhei Shelest, a former Hrodna Azot worker, was convicted under three Articles of the Criminal Code: creation of an extremist entity or participation therein, defamation, and high treason, and sentenced to 14 years of high security prison. He was a defendant in the “Rabochy Rukh” trial where 10 people were sentenced to prison terms varying from 11 to 15 years. 6 persons among the convicted were activists of the Independent Union. None of them plead guilty.
“Siarhei had received information that he could be arrested, he was advised to leave the country but he wouldn’t”, says Yuri Ravavoi to “Salidarnast”. “He would say that he was doing nothing illegal and that even if he was arrested, it would only be for several days, not more. Besides, his girlfriend was expecting a child and Siarhei simply could not leave her. But, unfortunately, it all ended with 14 years of prison.
When they came to arrest Shelest, he managed to escape, he was hiding out of town for a while and even managed to make it to the border in order to leave Belarus. But the KGB officers apprehended his girlfriend and informed Siarhei that should he fail to present himself, she would go to prison.
Siarhei had no choice but to come back and the girl… she lost the child. It really pains me to tell the story.
Currently, Siarhei is serving his term in a Mahileu prison. Unfortunately, we have virtually no information about what goes on there and what is the state of his health. But we hope he has no major issues there.”
The German Bundestag members from “The Greens” Jan-Niclas Gesenhues, the symbolic godparent of Siarhei Shelest, said in his interview to “Salidarnast” that throwing peaceful activists in jail was unacceptable:
“Siarhei Shelest just exercised his rights to freedom of speech, assembly, and association which are fundamental rights to be observed by any country, including Belarus. The fact that he was convicted to a long term in prison shows the brutal attitude of the regime towards people who defend their rights and a better future. So, I call for the immediate release of Siarhei Shelest and all other political prisoners who have been convicted and sent to Belarusian prisons on trumped-up charges.
Lizaveta Merliak adds:
“My colleague from the Independent Union Arthur Bogush has told me recently that “if the regime is changed and Belarus has democracy, then we shall erect a monument to Siarhei Shelest and Andrei Pageryla. And this will be stairs reaching up to the sky with two figures on it, holding the flag. And there will be Led Zeppelin’s A Stairway to Heaven playing.”
On April 19, 2025, the campaign “Trade Unionism is not Extremism!” will run a Day of Action for Trade Union Rights and Democracy in Belarus demanding the release of the imprisoned Belarusian trade union leaders and activists.
The campaign was launched to draw the international community’s attention to the situation of labour rights in Belarus. The country faces police terror, torture, and persecution of those opposed to Lukashenka’s dictatorial regime, including independent trade unionists.
The campaign calls for the release of trade union and other political prisoners, the cessation of repressions against union activists, and the restoration of guarantees for independent unions’ legal activities.
The campaign is organized by the “Salidarnast” Association which provides support to union activists, with the launch date to mark an anniversary of anti-union pogroms perpetrated by Lukashenka’s regime in 2022.
Victoria Leontieva
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