Yegor Balazeykin loves Tolstoy and Remarque, studies French, and keeps doing sports even in detention. Write him a letter!

Yegor Balazeykin loves Tolstoy and Remarque, studies French, and keeps doing sports even in detention. Write him a letter!

▶️ Who is Yegor Balazeykin

Yegor is 19 years old. Before his arrest, he studied at a gymnasium, practiced karate, and was interested in military equipment. Yegor adores literature and philosophy. For example, he reads Nietzsche and argues with him in his head.

For the past three years, Yegor has been in detention, and even there he still manages to study languages (with a French self-study book) and exercise.

“I run in the morning. They started taking us out to the football yard. It’s bigger than the others, and it’s very nice to do laps there. I work out during the day and in the evening. A couple of days ago the whole cell was exercising together, now it’s just the two of us,” Yegor wrote from the pretrial detention center.

▶️ How Yegor ended up in detention

Yegor took his uncle’s death very hard. He was a reserve officer, went to the front as a volunteer, and was killed near Izium in the summer of 2022.

In February 2023, 16-year-old Balazeykin threw two bottles of diesel fuel at a military enlistment office building, but they did not ignite. No one was hurt, and there was no damage. But Yegor was charged with attempted terrorism and sentenced to 6 years in prison.

▶️ What is happening in the penal colony

Yegor has autoimmune hepatitis, a severe incurable disease. In detention, the illness progresses faster: the teenager’s liver fibrosis is worsening.

At the same time, Yegor tries not to lose heart. After another extension of his detention, lawyer Sergey Loktev said that despite his young age, the teenager is holding up very firmly, like an adult.

His parents say that even in detention Yegor tries to remain humane: he shares parcels and clothes with others and supports those who have absolutely no one to help them.

💌 Write Yegor a letter through our “Vestochka” service! Your support matters a lot to him.

It is free and safe. If you are writing for the first time and do not know where to start, the website has detailed instructions.

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