Mikalai was detained in November 2023 as part of a criminal case opened after a protest that took place in Minsk on August 28, 2020 against the results of the presidential elections and violence in the country. He was convicted of participating in the protest under the article "on organizing and preparing actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them."
In August 2024, a court hearing in absentia was held as part of a special proceeding against Mikalai “on replacing the restriction of freedom without sending him to an open-type correctional facility.”
