Three FEMEN activists have just had the experience of a lifetime while protesting in Belarus. The protest revolved around the one year anniversary of the 2010 Belarus Presidential Election, one which was internationally recognized as incredibly fraudulent. Alexander Lukashenko was declared the winner, and this subsequently led to mass protests and hundreds of arrests.

Since there are still large numbers of incarcerated protesters, three FEMEN activists, Inna Shevchenko, Oksana Sasko and Alexandra Nemchinova, traveled to Belarus’s capital, Minsk, and staged a protest mocking Alexander Lukashenko on the steps of the Belarus KGB offices.

This act greatly angered someone, because shortly after they began the police arrived. All the girls fled, but one Australian, Kitty Green, journalist was captured. Kitty Green’s equipment was confiscated and she was deported to Lithuania, but shortly after the protests the KGB found the three FEMEN activists and all hell broke loose.

According to the women’s account, the KGB officers tied them up and blindfolded them, then threw them into a vehicle. For the next several hours the girls experienced hell. They were beaten, stripped naked, had their lives threatened at the end of a blade, had that same blade crudely cut their hair, they were doused in gasoline and again threatened that they would be lit. All the while, the entire ordeal was filmed. I have also found information that the girls were also forced to hold Nazi symbols, likely so that the Belarus authorities can properly distribute propaganda depicting FEMEN in a negative light.

The ladies are going to have a press conference later today, one which I plan on echoing below. The following are images of the three activists that were taken shortly after their arrival in Kiev. You can plainly see how distraught the women are. The ladies just went through incredible mental anguish at the hands of the Belarus KGB.

With that said, I would like to point out how strong these women are. The majority of women, men as well, would have buckled and walked away. I am confident that this action by Belarus will not only strengthen FEMEN’s resolve regarding the dictatorship currently in power there, but also cement their position around the world. The international attention that this event received, with media outlets around the world publishing updates, will help their cause immensely, all the while affirming the fact that Belarus is a country ripe for revolution.

Stay strong, Ladies. Our warmest thoughts are with you.

The following are images taken from FEMEN’s livejournal page. There are countless more images that can be found through FEMEN’s Facebook.