Sasha Skochilenko’s Open Letter
Sasha’s open letter published through “Uznik online” in response to communication she received after the Evening of Letter-Writing to Sasha Skochilenko, held in St. Petersburg on April 24th.
Thank you so much, Zhenya, Nina, Katya, Ladja, Dasha, Nau, Lada, Sergey, Kat, my mother, and all of you! There are no words to describe my gratitude to you. Here in prison, there is nothing more precious than letters. This is the only ray of light here. I was surprised to hear about your Evening of Letter-Writing. I would like to participate in something like this when I get released. Isolation from loved ones and from like-minded people is the worst thing you can imagine; I was shocked when I suddenly realized how many people face this situation and how severe their hardships are. To be honest, until this moment, I could not even imagine what imprisoned people have to go through. So thank you for what you are doing, because you are doing incredible things like this evening of letter-writing. I have never seen the postcards from the ‘Uznik’ project until now; they are very cool, just what you need here. Hopefully, I will draw a couple of them myself. I made a postcard for you. Music is forbidden here, so I can only draw... Erasers and colored pencils are also forbidden, but miraculously I have some yellow lead left, and I used it for this postcard. You all are very cool people because you can write words of love and support to a stranger. I feel so bad here and it is almost unbearable at times, but my mountain of letters warms me like a summer bonfire in the forest.
Many of you have written that spring has started in the city. I can see it here only because the buds on two trees out of my window. There is nothing green at the prison yard, but I am still glad when I go out there - perhaps this is the best thing that happens to me during the day (other than reading letters). By the way, all the letters reached me only on April 28th, although I know that they arrived earlier, but they gave them to me only after I had talked with the commission of human rights and the head of the pre-trial detention center. I do not know whether these things are connected somehow, no clue, but it was sad to stay without letters when everyone else was receiving them. But when they brought me a whole pile, there was no limit to my happiness, and I'm so sorry that there is no way to answer each of you personally... Strange as it may seem, there is a lot to do here in prison. Every day lawyers come to me, people from the commission of human rights, or I am summoned to the chief prosecutor or the head of the prison. At the same time, I need to write a bunch of appeals or perform some other not very meaningful duties in my cell... As for unpleasant things: the TV [official channels] is constantly on here, but I don't like it at all...
It was interesting to learn about all of you - where you work and what you do. I see that you are cool, self-sufficient, creative people. It's incredible to know that cool and diverse people support me. Sometimes I even get the feeling that I am loved too much and I don't deserve it at all. Please know that your support makes the difference for me. They treat me very differently from other prisoners. They create the best conditions for me and I am protected from many problems people face here. It's all thanks to you and your remarkable support! I was born in the poorest family and never had connections in state institutions. Everything that I am privileged to have is the result of what all of YOU humble people have done in good conscience and civic consciousness. I am glad that I was born in the same country as you, and I would like to say thank you to everyone personally one day!
April 30th, 2022
