In late October 2022, six men were detained in Minsk for allegedly hanging a stitched white-red-white flag along with the Ukrainian flag on power transmission line supports in Minsk on October 7. They were Igor Tepteyev, Yuriy Nesterenko, Viktor Grin'ko, Valery Balabeshko, Vladimir Savelyev, and Igor Tikach. The next day, Anton Motolko's Telegram channel posted a photo of the flag and the caption: "Minsk residents congratulate the Ukrainian people on the wonderful news from the Crimean bridge. Crimea is Ukraine! Long live Belarus! Glory to Ukraine!"
Tepteyev said in a pro-government film that he has known the other defendants in the case since childhood. According to Igor, he did not think that hanging the flags would lead to criminal liability. The flag was made back in March, Igor kept it at home for a long time, and then gave it to Yuri.
According to propagandist Gladkaya, Igor's wife was forced to leave Belarus due to persecution for the events of 2020. She is now in Poland, and the man with his small children is in Belarus.
On September 14, 2023, the appeal was heard. The verdict came into force.
On September 11, 2025, it became known that 52 prisoners of the Belarusian regime were forcibly transferred to the territory of Lithuania. Among them are citizens of European countries. Among those released is Igor Tepteyev.
Trial outcome 12.06.2023
3 years 6 months of imprisonment in colony under general regime conditions.
Vadim was detained on April 27, 2023, but on April 30 he was transferred to house arrest pending trial.
According to the prosecution , Vadim Smolevsky on March 2, 2022, from his personal VKontakte page in the chat “Image of a swastika. Independent Ukraine group VMS-17 "with the aim of causing harm to the authority of state power and the president, who posted an image of Lukashenko and officials of the Russian Federation, humiliating their honor and dignity and being insulting towards A. Lukashenko.
Trial outcome 25.08.2023:
2 years of restriction of freedom without direction.
Safanovich was accused of writing messages in a Telegram chat on October 25, 2020, calling for road closures. According to the prosecution and the court, in his first message, Safanovich "called for active participation in group actions in the Luninets district that grossly violate public order," i.e. Safanovich allegedly committed a crime under Part 1 of Article 342 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus.
Safanovich was also charged under Part 1 of Article 367 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus, i.e. public slander against Lukashenko. As follows from the article of the state publication, Safanovich wrote a second message in the same chat on August 13, 2020, under a photo of a tearful woman leaving Okrestina. The caption to the video was as follows : "Confession of a Belarusian girl who was in the dungeons of Lukashenko's Gestapo. Do I understand correctly that Lukashenko became the second after Hitler to attack the people of Belarus?"
On July 18, 2023, the appeal was heard and the verdict came into force.
According to human rights activists, he was released on December 23, 2024, having fully served his sentence as determined by the court.
Trial outcome 02.06.2023
2 years of imprisonment in colony under general regime conditions.
Appeal 18.07.2023
unknown.
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