- Associations
- Foreign citizens
Nakanishi Masatoshi is a Japanese citizen. On September 4, 2024, it was reported that hehad been detained in Belarus. He was detained back in July 2024, but the details of his persecution were only revealed now in a BT report. Nakanishi is being held in a KGB pretrial detention facility on charges of "intelligence activity" (Article 358-1 of the Criminal Code). The Japanese citizen faces up to seven years in prison in Belarus.
Immediately after the broadcast of the BT program, Tokyo lodged a protest with the Belarusian Foreign Ministry. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi stated that the program's content violated human rights.
On December 13, 2025, he was released after another visit to Minsk by US President Donald Trump's special representative, John Cole, and taken to Lithuania.
Vladislav, HR of the IT company PandaDoc, was detained on September 2, 2020, at the company's office by employees of the Financial Investigations Department on charges of fraud.
Following the events of August 2020, PandaDoc founder Nikita Mikado launched the Protect Belarus initiative to support dismissed law enforcement officers who refused to follow illegal orders. The initiative received over 500 applications and attracted public attention.
He was released in October 2020 on bail.
- Associations
- Entrepreneurs
- IT staff
Dmitry, the director of the IT company PandaDoc, was detained on September 2, 2020, at the company's office on charges of fraud by employees of the Financial Investigations Department.
Following the events of August 2020, PandaDoc founder Nikita Mikado launched the Protect Belarus initiative to support dismissed law enforcement officers who refused to follow illegal orders. The initiative received over 500 applications and attracted public attention.
He was released from custody on October 13, 2020: the measure of restraint was first changed to house arrest, and then to a written undertaking not to leave.
Participant of national, international and personal exhibitions. Member of the Union of Artists of the Republic of Belarus. The artist's works are in the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus, the Webkunsthaus Gallery of Germany, private collections in the USA, Italy, France, Russia, Holland, Ireland, Poland, Japan, Greece, Israel, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Australia, Germany.
Rimashevsky and his wife Lyudmila Shchemeleva were detained around the beginning of October 2024 and two weeks later they were still not released.
She was released together with her husband after serving the sentence imposed by the court.
- Associations
- Retirees
In 1987 he graduated from the Academy of Arts in Minsk. Since 1982 he has been a participant of national and international exhibitions. His paintings are in the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus, the Art Fund of the Republic of Belarus, the Webkunsthaus Gallery in Germany, the Schaer und Wildbolc Gallery in Switzerland, as well as in private collections in England, Australia, Austria, Denmark, Germany, Lithuania, Holland, France, Spain, Israel, Russia, Switzerland, Poland, Turkey, Italy, Japan, Ukraine, the USA, China, the Czech Republic, Syria, and Lebanon.
Rimashevsky and his wife Lyudmila Shchemeleva were detained around the beginning of October 2024 and two weeks later they were still not released.
He was released together with his wife after serving the sentence imposed by the court.
- Associations
- Athletes
According to the court, the charges against the individuals in Brest on August 10, 2020, included "shouting slogans, displaying white-red-white banners, and intentionally obstructing the movement of vehicles and the normal functioning of businesses." In doing so, they allegedly constituted a gross violation of public order. The man, in a video about his arrest, claimed to be a professional chess player, ranked among the top 30 chess players in Belarus.
He was scheduled to be released on October 3, 2025.
According to the court, the charge was that on August 10, 2020, in Brest, people "shouted slogans, displayed white-red-white banners, and intentionally obstructed the movement of vehicles and the normal functioning of businesses." In doing so, they allegedly grossly violated public order.
He was expected to be released on November 4, 2025.
According to the court, the essence of the charge was that on August 10, 2020, people in Brest "shouted slogans, demonstrated white-red-white banners, deliberately obstructed the movement of vehicles and the normal functioning of enterprises." In doing so, they allegedly grossly violated public order.
He is expected to be released on July 2, 2025.
- Associations
- Athletes
Dmitry Bulanov is 32 years old. He is from Brest and has been involved in chess his entire life. He currently ranks 28th among all Belarusian players and holds the FIDE Master title.
In 2020, Dmitry and his colleagues created the "Free Chess Players of Belarus" group and began competing under the white-red-white flag. Together with his team, which includes some of the strongest Belarusian chess players, they won the Chess Bundesliga twice.
In July 2023, Dmitry was detained by the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption (GUBOPiK). He is accused of participating in protests, registering with the "Peramoga" plan, and sending extremist materials (though security officials often force people to incriminate themselves on camera). He was released after three days in a temporary detention facility on his own recognizance.
Released in November 2025 .
A Telegram channel close to the security forces published a video of an engineer from the Minsk Hotel who was detained for participating in the protests.
In the video, the man says that he adhered to the ideas of Nazism, hung a portrait of Hitler in the garage, and after an "educational" conversation, destroyed it. He also said that on August 16, 2020, he took part in a protest.
The status of the detainee and the article under which he is accused is unknown.
- Associations
- Entrepreneurs
- Parents of minors
- Service sector
- IT staff
Artem was arrested in February 2024 and convicted under the article on "financing the activities of an extremist group." He was held in a pretrial detention center before the trial.
He has two higher educations, worked as a programmer, was involved in photography and owned a company renting photo and video equipment.
It is currently known that he is being prosecuted again in connection with a new criminal case under the article “organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them.”
- Associations
- Military
- Retirees
A retired military officer, a reserve lieutenant colonel who served in the Strategic Missile Forces, a former teacher at the Military Academy, and a member of the People's Hramada party.
During the 2020 presidential election campaign, Yakushkov was convicted twice of "participating in unauthorized events"—for participating in pickets to collect signatures for Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. Both times, the court sentenced him to "24 hours in jail."
He was released in the spring of 2026 .
Alexander was convicted in the fall of 2024 under the article "organizing and preparing actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them" and sentenced to restricted freedom with referral to an open-type institution.
He was released on March 20, 2026, as part of a pardon following another visit to Minsk by US President Donald Trump's special representative, John Cole.
