Jan Valerievich Papkovich
In early September, the Telegram channel of the volunteer initiative "Lists of Detainees" published information about the detention of an entire family: Yan, Anastasia, and Ales Papkovich.
Special forces stormed Yan's apartment. During the arrest, the officers fired a shot from an automatic weapon and wounded the dog, which had started barking at them.
Yan spent a month in a KGB pretrial detention center, where he was tortured and unable to walk. BT reports portrayed Yan as a mercenary planning to go to Ukraine. It is known that Yan pleaded not guilty at his trial. One of the witnesses stated that "they pressured him, and he signed whatever they told him." As evidence of Yan's guilt, the investigation presented his private correspondence with his wife, as well as with friends who, according to investigators, serve in Kalinovsky's regiment in Ukraine.
Yan worked as a cash collector at Belgazprombank.
In March 2024 and April 2025, Yana was convicted twice under the article “malicious disobedience to the legal demands of the colony administration,” and in total, another year of imprisonment was added to her existing sentence.
On December 13, 2025, he was released following a visit to Minsk by US President Donald Trump's special representative, Keith Kellogg, and taken to Ukraine.
How to write a letter
✏️ A postcard with words of encouragement (a poem by your favorite author, song lyrics, or a beautiful quote). Trust us, even such simple gestures are very meaningful to a person in jail.
✏️ Your life events. To a person who is in isolation for a long time, any story about your routine endeavors will be a window into normal life. Your day-to-day worries and mundane matters are much more interesting than the daily grind of life behind bars.
✏️ It is important to share news. Mention the most notable and interesting occurrences depending on your pen-pal's interests.
✍️️ Remember that every letter is censored. This means that your letters are read by strangers whose main goal is to limit inmates' access to information or to use it against the prisoners or even you.
So try to avoid:
👉️️ harsh statements regarding ongoing political matters
👉 statements against the authorities and public servants
👉 foul language
👉 discussion of the circumstances of the criminal case
Involved in repression
