Political persecutions

Alexander was found guilty in December 2021 of "insulting a government official" for a comment he left under a photo of Igor Volnich, a traffic police officer at the Gantsevichi District Police Department, pinning a detained man to the ground with his knee.

Alexey was found guilty in January 2022 of "insulting a government official" for a comment he left on the "Punishermen of Belarus" Telegram channel on November 22, 2021, under a post addressed to Natalia Yarmolinskaya, a district juvenile affairs inspector from Borisov.

Alla was found guilty of "insulting a government official" for a comment she left on the social network Odnoklassniki under a photo of Igor Volnich, a traffic police officer from the Gantsevichi District Police Department, pinning a young man to the ground with his knee.

Maria, a Russian citizen, was found guilty in January 2022 of a criminal case brought for insulting Lukashenko, specifically for a comment left in an "extremist" Telegram channel on May 26, 2021. It was related to the emergency landing of a Ryanair flight carrying Roman Protasevich.

Maria left Belarus before she began serving her sentence.

Nikita was found guilty of grossly disturbing public order in Minsk in August 2020: on the nights of August 9-10 and August 30. He allegedly blocked traffic, including by "elbow-to-elbowing," thereby stopping it.

Natalia was arrested in December 2021 in connection with a criminal case opened under articles for insulting a government official and Lukashenko.

In June 2022, she was found guilty and sentenced to restricted freedom and sent to an open correctional facility.

Left Belarus before starting to serve her sentence.

In November 2024, a court hearing in absentia was held as part of a special proceeding on the issue of replacing the restriction of freedom with imprisonment in a penal colony.

Svetlana, a leading client relations specialist at A1, was arrested in December 2021 as part of a criminal case opened under the article "organizing and preparing actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them." She was first detained in a temporary detention facility and later in a pretrial detention center.

In March 2022, the court found her guilty and sentenced her to restricted freedom without being sent to an open correctional facility and to pay a fine.

An activist from the European Belarus movement was detained on December 30, 2021, in connection with a criminal case alleging group actions that grossly violated public order.

On January 7, 2022, the woman was transferred to a pre-trial detention facility.

Elena has a little son.

In January 2023, Elena was transferred to Gomel Women's Colony No. 4. For a long time, a lawyer was unable to see the political prisoner; she was placed in solitary confinement.

In October 2023, it became known that Elena's package had not been accepted in August. This likely indicates that she had been deprived of her packages. The last letter from Elena arrived in early September, and no letters have been received since. Since Lazarchik's transfer to the penal colony, the prison administration has not granted permission to meet with a lawyer. Elena's current situation and her current condition are unknown. Elena is experiencing dental problems in the colony and has lost weight.

In mid-November 2023, human rights activists learned that Elena had been placed in solitary confinement again.

According to the testimony of the former political prisoner, Elena served more than 90 days in a punishment cell and more than 60 days in a PKT .

In the spring of 2025, Elena was convicted under Part 2 of Article 411 of the Criminal Code (malicious disobedience to the lawful demands of the prison administration) and sentenced to an additional eighteen months in prison in addition to her eight years in prison. The date of the sentence is unknown. It is known that Elena refused legal representation at her trial.

On September 16, 2026, she was released after a visit to Minsk by US President Donald Trump's special representative, John Cole, and taken to Lithuania.

Svetlana was found guilty in January 2022 of the criminal offense of "insulting a government official" for a comment left on February 18, 2021, in the "Dvizh" group on the social network VKontakte under a post about how police officers Sergei Vladimirovich Shramov and Alexander Leonidovich Shlupakov "sacrificed their lives" in removing white-red-white balloons.

It is known that Svetlana had undergone surgery to remove a brain tumor and was undergoing complex rehabilitation at the time of the trial. Despite this, she was sentenced to restricted freedom and ordered to pay compensation to the "victims."

Alexey was arrested in November 2021 for participating in protests. Security forces identified Alexey based on a photograph: a person who had photos from the 2020 rally had previously been detained. Twenty-three people were identified using one of these photographs.

In early March 2022, the court found Alexei guilty in a criminal case brought under the article "organizing and preparing actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them," and sentenced him to restricted freedom and placement in an open correctional facility.

He was released in the courtroom before being sent to the correctional facility and soon left Belarus.

Sergei was found guilty in January 2022 of "insulting a government official" for a comment he left in the "Whiskered Cockroach" group on the social network Odnoklassniki, addressing a traffic police officer who had stopped and fined Orsha activists.

Left Belarus before starting to serve his sentence.

Galina, a 2D artist at Vizor Games, was arrested in December 2021 as part of a criminal case opened under the article "organizing and preparing actions that grossly violate public order, or actively participating in them." Law enforcement officers recorded a "confession video" with Galina, in which she explained that she subscribed to Telegram channels deemed extremist by the Belarusian authorities and that she participated in protests and roadblocks in August 2020.

In May 2022, Galina was found guilty and sentenced to restricted freedom without being sent to an open correctional facility.

Left Belarus.

In October and November 2024, in absentia court hearings were held within the framework of special proceedings on the issue of replacing the appointed sentence.

Business Analyst at EPAM IT company. On December 10, the court arrested Nasuro's manager for 13 days under the article on the distribution of extremist materials (part 2 of article 19.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses). Since December 31, Nasuro has been in pre-trial detention center No. 1. A criminal case was opened against him under the article on gross violation of order (Part 1 of Article 342 of the Criminal Code). Denis has 4 children.

Andrei was arrested in September 2021 as part of a criminal case opened for online comments following the deaths of KGB officer Dmitry Fedosyuk and IT specialist Andrei Zeltser in Minsk.

In July 2022, he was transferred to house arrest and soon left Belarus.

Alexey was found guilty in February 2021 of "insulting a government official" for a comment he left in the Dombrovka-5 district chat room about Mikhail Bedunkevich, head of the third department of the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.