Yury and Siarhei Pliashkun met in 2020 during the post-election protests. According to the investigation, at that time they went out onto the roadway with a white-red-white flag and blocked traffic on the central streets of Minsk.
On February 28, 2022, Yury was detained in a case on preparing an act of terrorism. The prosecution claimed that the two men intended to destroy Russian military equipment being moved through the Mazyr district and had been stockpiling components for Molotov cocktails since August 2020. State television showed hidden-camera footage from a garage in which they allegedly discussed damaging railway tracks.
In February 2023, after a closed trial, Yury was found guilty in a criminal case initiated under several articles, including preparation of an act of terrorism and of disabling transport routes, and was sentenced to a long prison term.
His symbolic godmother is Jamila Schäfer, a member of the German Bundestag.
