"I found the courage to look at the wound only a week later"

At that moment, a group of journalists and I stood in the way of the protesters, rather than in the way of the special forces. Most of us wore blue Press vests, and we all had special badges. It was clearly visible that we were not participants in the event. However, unfortunately, that did not save us.

At some point we decided to leave. I was at the back and felt something burn my leg. I didn't understand what had happened immediately. I did not see the moment of shooting. During the first few seconds, I did not understand it had been a bullet. I thought that some pebble had bounced off my leg. I was sure that someone was shooting from afar: by accident or on purpose I didn't know.

But then I saw a video of the shooting. The man firing was standing ten meters away from me: he took aim, and decided that it was okay to shoot at an unarmed person who was at work who had neither threatened him with anything, nor even seen him.

On adrenaline, I ran across the pedestrian crossing, and then I noticed that my jeans were burned, a hole was punched in my leg, and blood was pouring out. The wound was close to the knee. I was scared to step on that leg so as not to worsen its condition. I started screaming that I had been wounded, I was bleeding, needed an ambulance, and could not walk. Fortunately, someone nearby had bandages, and I got my leg bandaged to stop the bleeding a bit.

It was almost impossible to call an ambulance, because some roads were blocked. I was taken to the hospital by people whose car was parked nearby. Thanks to them, I quickly got to the emergency hospital on Kizhevatova Street. As we drove, the bandage and jeans were soaked with blood.

I used to think that rubber bullets were those little yellow balls used at a shooting range. It turned out that these are fully-fledged live munitions. The only difference from ordinary bullets is that they are made of rubber. When I saw the damage such a bullet could inflict, I was shocked.

Moreover, the Ministry admitted they had used them against the protesters. It is completely incomprehensible to me how the Ministry of Internal Affairs could boast the day before that they had been using rubber bullets against the protesters. This admission of violence is completely astonishing and unacceptable to me.

I found the courage to look at my wound only a week after arriving at the hospital. I wouldn't look at it at all, but the forensic expert didn't come, and I didn't want to be told later that my wound was a fake, that I had just a bruise on my leg. I thought that I must photograph the wound for a trial, if there was to be one. I was shocked to see what a huge and deep hole I had above my knee!

I was very worried that this happened in the first place, that no investigation was going on, that there was no apology, no admission of guilt from the police or other law enforcement agencies.

When I got wounded, I knew that the internet was not working well, and I thought my relatives would learn everything from me a bit later, when I would get home. I didn't think it would take a month. I was sure that the wound would be washed, bandaged, and I would be allowed to go home. However, after a couple of minutes, my mother, husband, relatives were all calling me. The internet hadn't provided much information about how exactly I was wounded and how serious it all was.

I didn't say anything to my grandparents for several days so as not to worry them, but they learned everything on the square, in their village. The grandmother was in hysterics: she could not imagine that this was possible in Belarus, in the capital, in broad daylight.

I am very lucky to have such a family. They always support me in both word and deed. They understand my civic stance, and my attitude to the profession. Unfortunately, there are some relatives who look at the situation from a different perspective and think that rudeness and violence can be justified. This is very painful, and I do not yet see how to bridge this family divide. This is a moral issue rather than a political one.