2023-08-28 08:43:07
Andrey Strizhak shared with the BPN agency some of the results of the BySol Foundation’s work over the past three years. In particular, he told the average annual volume of donations to the organization.
“In 2020, BySol together with the ByHelp initiative collected and distributed about 8 million euros. In 2021 and 2022, the average annual volume of donations collected by BySol was in the range of 1-1.5 million euros. These are private donations, which most often go to specific people. In a week, we receive from 7 to 10 applications for direct assistance, about one per day. The total number of such applications has already exceeded 900. We started accepting them on April 1, 2021. Of course, not everyone approves. In total, we posted about 800 fundraising ads, and there was not a single one with zero results.”
The fund also had a debt in January 2021 – in the order of 250,000 euros. Through this, BySol was forced to cancel applications from those dismissed for political reasons. During that year, it was possible to pay off the debts, and then the organizers of the fund found an opportunity to organize courses in social network management and SEO-optimization of websites, plus an English language course.
“A total of 70 people from among former political prisoners are now studying at these courses. We plan to train at least 200 people,” Andrei Strizhak said.
As the head of the fund notes, often the same repressed people who once received similar support donate money to help the repressed. But there is a significant difficulty – the persecution of donations in Belarus.
“In terms of receiving funds, we have now completely cut off any Belarusian payment mechanisms. We stress everywhere that people should never use them anywhere. This is not an illusory danger. About 20 people have been convicted or are awaiting trial or under investigation for the donations.”
During the work of the fund, more than a thousand people who were threatened with arrest and other types of persecution were deported from Belarus.
If before the evacuation was done by one employee of the fund, now it is done by a whole group of people “with different competences”, Andrei Strizhak said.
By the end of 2023, the foundation hopes to increase aid for political prisoners.
The BySol team created a charity campaign to help former political prisoners recover their health after being in the inhumane conditions of Belarusian prisons and detention centers. Their mental and physical condition has been greatly affected and people now need support to recover their health, the foundation said in announcing the campaign.
All collected funds will be directed to help the families of police prisoners who have been released and are in need of medical assistance.
BySol Solidarity Fund
It was created on August 14, 2020 in response to mass arrests and repression after the presidential elections in Belarus. The idea of creation belongs to Andrei Strizhak. The fund exists on donations. More than 90,000 people from all over the world have already become donors to the fund.
The fund has several directions of work: support of political prisoners and their families; immediate relocation from Belarus of people who are in danger; personal allowances for people who have been released from prisons and are forced to leave; as well as retraining those who were dismissed from work for political reasons.
In December 2021, BySol was recognized as an extremist organization, several criminal cases were opened against its founder Andrei Strizhak. The office of the fund is located in Vilnius.
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