Political persecutions

Oleg was arrested on January 6, 2021, and convicted of insulting a public official. The court ruled that the sentence would be suspended, so he was released in the courtroom.

Nikolai, a blogger, journalist and anarchist activist, was detained on November 11, 2020, by GUBOPiK and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. During his detention, he was beaten, pepper sprayed in his eyes and forced to appear in a video for the Ministry of Internal Affairs. After his detention, Nikolai was tortured, demanding access to Telegram channels.

He was convicted on charges of organizing protests and extremism. In prison, he was repeatedly punished: sent to solitary confinement, punishment cells, and restricted in communication. In 2023, Nikolai continued to receive penalties for minor violations. In 2024, a new case was opened against him under the article for "disobeying the demands of the administration of a correctional institution" - it is applied to prisoners who refuse to cooperate, for fictitious violations.

In October 2024, it became known that he had been in a punishment cell (SHIZO) for the fourth month.

On September 11, 2025, it became known that 52 prisoners of the Belarusian regime were forcibly transferred to the territory of Lithuania. Among them are citizens of European countries. Among those released is Nikolai Dziadok.

Denis was arrested in December 2020 and convicted for participating in protests.

Well-known translator and English teacher Olga was detained on January 15, 2021 and convicted for allegedly hitting STV employee Grigory Azarenok during one of the protests in Minsk.

Yaroslav was detained on September 25, 2020, on charges of participating in a protest on the night of August 10-11, 2020, near the Riga shopping center in Minsk. He was convicted of "participation in group actions that grossly violate public order." The court also ordered the confiscation of his personal car to the state, considering it a means of committing a crime.

In January 2022, he was pardoned: his sentence was replaced with “house arrest”.

Sergei, a former paratrooper and co-founder of the organization "Paspalitae Rushenne", was detained for participating in protests and sentenced to administrative arrest. He was subsequently forced to leave Belarus due to the criminal prosecution.

Popular Belarusian blogger and creator of the YouTube channel "Country for Life" Sergei expressed a desire to run for president. However, before the start of the election campaign, he was arrested for organizing an unauthorized event. His wife, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, submitted documents to the Central Election Commission by proxy, but Sergei was not registered as a candidate due to the lack of his signature. Subsequently, Svetlana herself was registered as a candidate. After his release, Sergei became her trusted person and participated in collecting signatures.

On May 29, 2020, he was detained again during a picket in Grodno and later convicted under several criminal articles, including "organizing mass riots" and "inciting hatred." According to human rights activists, the defendants in the "case" are required to pay compensation in the amount of 29 million rubles.

In August 2022, the court transferred Sergei to prison regime. In February 2023, he was convicted again for "malicious disobedience to the demands of the administration of a correctional institution" - an article applied to prisoners who refuse to cooperate with the administration, including for fictitious violations. As a result, another year and a half of imprisonment was added to his 18-year sentence.

On June 21, 2025, Sergey was released following a visit to Minsk by U.S. President Donald Trump's special representative, Keith Kellogg, and was immediately taken to Lithuania.

Igor, a consultant for Radio Liberty and administrator of the "Belarus of the Brain" Telegram channel, was arrested on June 25, 2020, on charges of "participating in group actions that grossly violate public order." However, he was later convicted of "organizing mass riots" as part of the Tikhanovsky criminal case.

According to human rights activists, the defendants in the case are required to pay compensation in the amount of 29 million rubles.

On September 11, 2025, it was announced that 52 political prisoners of the Belarusian regime had been forcibly transferred to Lithuania. Among them were citizens of European countries. Igor Losik was among those released.

Danila was detained in a criminal case opened after a protest that took place on September 13, 2020 in Brest, where people sang and danced in circles, and a water cannon was used against them. He was convicted of "participation in group actions that grossly violate public order." According to the prosecution, the downtime of the trolleybus and bus depots caused damage in the amount of about 660 Belarusian rubles.

He was released on October 23, 2021, having fully served his sentence, and deported to the Russian Federation.

Arseniy was detained in a criminal case opened after a protest that took place on September 13, 2020 in Brest, where people sang and danced in circles, and a water cannon was used against them. He was convicted of "participation in group actions that grossly violate public order." According to the prosecution, the downtime of the trolleybus and bus depots caused damage in the amount of about 660 Belarusian rubles.

In December 2024, it became known that a court hearing in absentia was held regarding Arseniy to replace the restriction of freedom with imprisonment in a penal colony.

Roman was detained in a criminal case opened after a protest that took place on September 13, 2020 in Brest, where people sang and danced in circles, and a water cannon was used against them. He was convicted of "participation in group actions that grossly violate public order." According to the prosecution, the downtime of the trolleybus and bus depots caused damage in the amount of about 660 Belarusian rubles.

Vadim was detained and convicted for breaking the window of a bus carrying police officers during a protest that took place on August 10, 2020 in Bereza.

In September 2021, he was pardoned: his sentence was replaced with “house arrest”.

Timur was detained in a criminal case opened after the protests on August 10, 2020 in Brest against election fraud. Returning from work, he was shot with rubber bullets five times. The investigator explained the measure of restraint by the lack of Belarusian citizenship, although Timur has lived in the country with a residence permit for about 23 years. He was convicted of participating in "mass riots", and according to the case materials, the total damage amounted to more than 27 thousand Belarusian rubles.

In June 2023, human rights activists learned that Timur spent more than 100 days in a punishment cell, after which he was transferred to a punishment cell, and then to prison regime.

In July 2024, he was re-convicted for “malicious disobedience to the colony administration.”

On September 11, 2025, it became known that 52 prisoners of the Belarusian regime were forcibly transferred to the territory of Lithuania. Among them are citizens of European countries. Among those released is Timur Rizapur.

Oleg, a Volna FC fan, was arrested on August 10, 2020, as part of a criminal case opened due to protests and clashes between Pinsk residents and security forces on the night of August 9-10, 2020. He was convicted of participating in "mass riots." The victims in the case included 109 police officers and officials, who, in addition to prison sentences, demanded approximately 530,000 rubles in compensation from the defendants.

In June 2022, he was transferred to prison regime.

In March 2024, Oleg was convicted again of "malicious disobedience to the demands of the prison administration." This article is used to prosecute prisoners who refuse to cooperate with the administration for fictitious violations.

On December 13, 2025, he was released following a visit to Minsk by US President Donald Trump's special representative, John Cole, and taken to Ukraine.

Elena was detained in a criminal case initiated due to protests and clashes between Pinsk residents and security forces on the night of August 9-10, 2020. She was convicted of participating in "mass riots." The victims in the case were 109 police officers and officials, who, in addition to imprisonment, demanded about 530 thousand rubles in compensation from the accused.

It is known that Elena is subjected to physical and psychological violence, she has been deprived of all parcels and meetings with loved ones. She regularly receives disciplinary punishments and is in a depressed psychological state. She has also been deprived of parental rights.

On February 12, 2025, with the help of the US State Department, Elena Movshuk , journalist Andrei Kuznechik and a US citizen whose name has not yet been disclosed were released. They were pardoned by Lukashenko. The condition for Elena's release was leaving Belarus. On the eve of her release, she was transferred from Colony No. 24 to the KGB pretrial detention center, from where the next day she was taken with a mask over her eyes to the border with Lithuania.

Details of the release were revealed to CNN by Chris Smith, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs.

"It was a special operation: we crossed the Belarusian border, met with government officials in Minsk, who handed over three detainees to us. We picked them up and took them through Lithuania."

Smith said it was a "unilateral gesture" by Belarusian authorities seeking to improve relations with the United States.

"Lukashenko received nothing in return," he noted.