Draft First minutes: what human rights defenders usually advise
Summoned by the KGB or police for a 'talk'
Draft. Compiled from human rights groups' guides but not yet reviewed by a lawyer. This is not legal advice — check the linked sources and consult a lawyer.
First find out what it is: a 'preventive talk' or an interrogation. At an interrogation you have a procedural status and the right to a lawyer.
Viasna's lawyers advise saying as little as possible — 'yes', 'no', 'I don't know' — and not being drawn into a 'friendly' conversation.
Don't name people, chats or contacts of those who left. Expect your phone and Telegram to be inspected or photographed.
Sign the record of the talk only after reading it in full; you can state your disagreement with its wording in writing.
Discuss an offer to 'cooperate' with human rights defenders at once, but contact them from a device that is not checked. Note that contact with an 'extremist formation' from inside Belarus can in itself become grounds for a case. If you signed a non-disclosure pledge, discuss it with a lawyer once you are abroad. The recruitment attempt can later support an asylum claim.
Designations of organisations in this guide: Viasna Human Rights Centre (extremist in Belarus). Contacting them carries a risk: do not write from a phone that may be seized, and do not repost their materials.