Political prisoners

Nikita Storozhenko is a former detective. He resigned after the presidential elections of Belarus in 2020 in protest against the current government. After his dismissal, Nikita worked as a lawyer.

He was detained on April 23, 2021 for "unauthorized picketing", convicted and sentenced to 15 days in prison according to Article part 1 of Article 24.23 of the Code of the Republic of Belarus on Administrative Offenses. He was released on May 8, 2021.

On May 4, 2021, Storozhenko, like other law enforcement officials who resigned in protest, was deprived of the rank of senior lieutenant of justice reserve by Lukashenka.

Nikita was detained again on February 1, 2022 in a shopping center in Minsk. In a video posted on the telegram channel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, he says that he transferred the contacts of two employees of the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption and the deputy head of the Investigative Committee for Minsk to one of the "protest telegram channels".

The trial took place on November 15, 2022 in the Minsk City Court. Nikita was tried for "inciting other social enmity and discord" under Part 3 of Article 130 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus, as well as for "illegal collection and dissemination of information about private life" (Part 1 of Article 179 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus).

On December 2, 2022, he was sentenced to seven years in a high-security penal colony. he is also obliged to pay a fine of 5 000 BYN (2 056 USD) as moral compensation to employees, whose data, according to the prosecution, he transmitted to the "protest telegram channel".

According to the case file, in January 2021 Gavrilov purchased and provided aerosol cans with paint to two acquaintances — Tatiana Birulya and Oleg Birulya. After that, Tatiana and Oleg, from January to February 2021, applied inscriptions and drawings to various infrastructure facilities in Soligorsk, carrying out their damage. They also put an inscription on the wall of one of the houses in relation to Lukashenko, in which they accused him of a particularly serious crime, that is, they committed slander.

Then, from August to December 2021, the defendants distributed leaflets and other printed materials on the territory of Soligorsk. The content of these leaflets was allegedly aimed at inciting social hostility and discord on the basis of other social affiliation.

At the end of winter 2024, it became known that a new criminal case had been opened against Oleg and his wife.

On December 20, 2020, Vasily saw a news story on Telegram about a police officer yelling at children at a Belarusian school, using obscene language. In response, a Pinsk resident posted a joke in the comments section of the "Punisher Belarus" Telegram channel, which had previously aired on the KVN (Club of the Funny and Inventive) program. It was a paraphrase of a famous children's song, "Let Them Run Clumsily," from the cartoon about Cheburashka and Crocodile Gena. The KVN version had a different chorus. The comment read: "Lera is a bitch at work, and she's a bitch at home, too, because Lera only has sex once a year."

Immediately after the verdict, Vasily left the country. On October 16, 2025, Vasily was detained in St. Petersburg. He is on the international wanted list.

Detained for drawing using stencils of "Chase".

Anatoly Latushka is the cousin of politician Pavel Latushko.

On March 22, 2024, he was transferred to prison regime until the end of his term.

She was detained for drawing "Pahonia" stencils. On September 20, the Central District Court of Minsk sentenced three political prisoners: Anatoly Latushka, the cousin of politician Pavel Latushko, Lilia Ananyan, and Elena Malinovskaya. At the trial, Latushko and Malinovskaya pleaded not guilty, while Ananyan fully admitted her guilt. Judge Dmitry Karsyuk sentenced Anatoly to six years in prison, Elena to four years in prison, and Lilia to five years of house arrest, before releasing her in the courtroom.

Elena has a minor son left at home.

Elena was supposed to be released at the end of August 2025, but she was never released. As Elena's friends told Nasha Niva , she was transported to Minsk, where a new criminal case was opened against her .

17-year-old Yelisey was accused of throwing a bottle with a flammable mixture at a police car. For violations of "house chemistry" Yelisey's punishment was increased to imprisonment and Yelisey was taken into custody on April 20, 2022 and since May 27 the young man has been in the colony.

12/17/2022 released after serving the full sentence imposed by the court.

He was arrested again in May 2023 and convicted in August for tearing down, together with a friend, three state flags installed on the facades of an educational institution, a retail facility, and a post office in the agro-town of Voyskaya in the Kamenets district.

On December 18 , 2024 , the Borisovsky District Court will hear Yelisey’s case under Part 1 of Article 411 (malicious disobedience to the demands of the administration of a correctional institution ).

According to the Prosecutor General's Office, a resident of Vitebsk from July 16 to August 12, 2020 in a state of alcoholic intoxication from his TikTok page to awaken social hostility posted three videos in public access. The material presented in them formed a negative attitude towards police officers and representatives of the army command staff, encouraging violent and aggressive actions - the press release notes.

The Prosecutor General's Office also states that the 34 year old man had 10 previous convictions.

Oleg, the owner of the YouTube channel "Third Region Belarus," was detained in January 2022 when he returned to Belarus for the New Year holidays.

Oleg was accused of de-anonymizing security officials and, while abroad, allegedly continuing to "post anti-state information on social media and promote resistance to government officials." On his channel, he published videos of Belarusian solidarity protests in Kyiv, where he had lived since 2020. He was also accused of making "cynical comments" about deceased KGB officer Dmitry Fedosyuk.

In September 2022, he was convicted under several articles of the Criminal Code, including "inciting racial, national, religious, or other social hatred or discord." The court sentenced him to imprisonment in a maximum-security penal colony and ordered him to pay substantial compensation.

In July 2023, Oleg was convicted again of "malicious disobedience to the demands of the prison administration"—a charge often applied to political prisoners who refuse to cooperate with the prison administration. In September of that year, it was reported that he had been transferred to a prison regime.

It was revealed that Oleg faced another court hearing in the first half of summer 2025 under the same charge of "insubordination." The appeal hearing was scheduled for mid-July.

According to investigators, in August and September 2020, Valentin Panasik posted comments on the «Grodno 97%» telegram channel: «By the way, you can start by setting fire to the «Tabakerok», there are no cameras there, sort of».

He also left messages: «We'll fuck «Tabakerki» at night, it's time to remove them from the streets, at the same time we'll practice sabotage»; «Yes, and trample their hands so that they can no longer take a club in their hands»; «Bones will grow together, crooked hands will come off to work with a plow».

The man was also charged that on August 12, 2020, he arrived at Cosmonauts Avenue in Grodno, filmed a protest on video and uploaded it to the Internet with his comments.

He is a programmer, enjoys music and fishing. Very inquisitive, knowledgeable in many areas. Studies English and German. He always knew that he would live in Germany, loves the Rammstein band, listens to them all his life, knows all the songs by heart.

The channels supporting the current state authorities reported that Artem was detained for having developed a barcode scanning program to boycott companies that support the current government.

68-year-old Boris Vitko was accused of writing an offensive comment regarding judge Nikolai Kmita on September 30, 2021, in the Lyakhovichi 97 telegram channel.

Court verdict 01/20/2023: 2 years of restriction of freedom without direction.

At the end of May 2023, it became known that Boris was detained again. This was reported by the pro-government telegram channel. Riot police officers in bulletproof vests with shotguns detained a man on the territory of a private house. In the published video, Boris says that he was detained on suspicion of insulting Lukashenko (Article 368 of the Criminal Code). A search was conducted at the place of residence in the village of Medvedichi, Lyakhovichi district.

Later, human rights activists learned that for some time Boris Vitko was held in the Lyakhovichi temporary detention center, then transferred to the Baranovichi pre-trial detention center. He is now in pre-trial detention center No. 7 in Brest awaiting trial. In November 2023, Boris was added to the list of terrorists. The trial began in early January 2024. At the first trial, Boris Vitko was charged with the fact that on September 30, 2021, in the telegram channel “Lyakhovichi 97” he wrote an offensive comment regarding judge Nikolai Kmita. Based on the totality of sentences, by partial addition of the unserved part of the sentence, the finally accused Boris Vitko was sentenced to imprisonment for a term of seven years and three months, to be served in a correctional colony under a high security regime, with a fine to the state in the amount of 300 basic units in the amount of 12,000 rubles .

Boris has heart problems and must constantly take medication.

A resident of Miory was detained for unfurling a sign in a public place with the inscription: “Usurper.” Date of arrest: 08/26/2021.

Before the trial, the political prisoner was kept in the Zhodino pre-trial detention center.

On May 18, 2023, a trial was held to replace the sentence from restriction of freedom to a colony.