22-year-old Yakau Kudzyalevich, son of Dzmitry Kudzyalevich, one of the leaders of the “Belaruskali” strike committee, was admitted to the intensive care unit of a Czech town after a suicide attempt. The young man poisoned himself with a large dose of pregabalin — a strong psychiatric medication. How could this happen?
Павялічыць
Photo: Facebook
Yakau Kudzyalevich moved to Czechia in 2021 and started studying there. He chose this country because his father advised him to.
Yakau enrolled in Ostrava Technical University, studying biomedical technologies. The young man studied for three courses in that complex specialty, but in 2024, he failed one exam twice and was expelled. This deprived him of a legal basis to live in Czechia, and he went looking for other ways to legalize his stay.
Initially, the young man tried to get a new visa, found a job and a university in Prague, but it didn’t work out there either. He even received a deportation order. To avoid expulsion, he decided to go to a refugee camp and apply for international protection.
On April 10, Yakau received a reply that his application for international protection was denied. It is unknown if the young man had any evidence that he was truly in danger of persecution in Belarus.
Павялічыць
Yakau Kudzyalevich. Photo: the young man’s VKontakte page
On April 13, Yakau contacted a lawyer, who told him that appealing the refusal would cost 35,000 Czech korunas — more than 1400 euros. Yakau didn’t have that kind of money, so he was redirected to a free lawyer.
Around the same time, the young man had a fight with his girlfriend.
On the evening of April 13, Yakau stopped responding. People called him until his phone completely ran out of battery, and then his girlfriend asked for Yakau to be visited in his room — to check if everything was okay. When they went in, they saw the young man lying unconscious.
From the refugee camp where he was staying, Yakau was transported to the intensive care unit in the town of Rychnov nad Kněžnou. It turned out that the Belarusian had severe poisoning from strong medications. Among them, for example, pregabalin — a powerful drug used to treat pain, epilepsy, and anxiety.
The young man has been in a coma for more than two weeks. It is known that his brain suffered severe damage, and Yakau’s prospects are unclear.
It is also known that the insurance, under which the young man is being treated, may soon run out. In that case, the Belarusian’s further rehabilitation could cost his parents tens of thousands of euros.
«Nasha Niva» — the bastion of Belarus