A 19-year-old man was convicted for messages he left in Telegram group chats in February of this year. These messages were allegedly a reaction to the Russian-led war in Ukraine, which began in Belarus.
In the spring of 2026, it became known that Ilya had been transferred to prison conditions until the end of his sentence.
On September 16, 2026, he was released after a visit to Minsk by US President Donald Trump's special representative, John Cole, and taken to Lithuania.
