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.
