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Nina Baginskaya, 78, became a symbol of the 2020 protests. Photos of her holding the national flag were published in many foreign media outlets.
She went to her first protest in 1988 in Kurapaty near Minsk, where there are mass graves of Belarusian victims of the Stalin regime. Later, Baginskaya took part in opposition actions held in memory of the Chernobyl disaster, the disappearance of opposition politicians, and in protest against the annexation of Crimea. She was detained and fined many times. "I need to live 120 years to pay them all off," Nina said in an interview. Since 2016, 20% of Baginskaya's pension has been deducted to pay fines, and since 2017, 50%. In 2016, bailiffs confiscated the pensioner's microwave and washing machine. A few years later, the state seized and put her two summer houses up for sale.
Baginskaya explains her activity by a sense of duty to her descendants.
In 2025, the basis of the charges in the criminal case against Baginskaya was administrative protocols and court decisions from 2024.
Nina Baginskaya has a number of serious illnesses and needs timely medical treatment. In prison conditions, her life could be in serious danger.
Nina was found guilty of "repeated violations of the law on holding mass events," but instead of punishment she was given "preventive observation."
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He is a pensioner and has a young child to support.
On March 19, 2026, he was pardoned after another visit to Minsk by US President Donald Trump's special representative, John Cole (among a group of 235 prisoners left in Belarus).
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Irina worked for over 15 years at Peleng JSC, a leading design and engineering company in the optical-electronics industry. Most recently, she held the position of Category 1 Design Engineer in the Structured Cable Systems Research and Design Department, in the Production Systems Support Sector.
Irina was likely detained as part of a raid on the company that began in the summer of 2024. In March 2025, she was convicted of "calling for sanctions" and sentenced to imprisonment.
On December 13, 2025, she was released following a visit to Minsk by US President Donald Trump's special representative, John Cole, and taken to Ukraine.
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Vyacheslav Shchavlik is 74 years old. He is originally from the city of Dolinsk, which is located on Sakhalin Island. He has a wife and two adult sons.
It is unknown when exactly he was detained, but Vyacheslav has not appeared on social networks and messengers for a long time. It seems that he is behind bars. Vyacheslav's trial will begin on March 6, 2025 in the Frunzensky District Court, where the cases of two girls who are apparently at large will also be heard .
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The 65-year-old director of an auto parts store, Viktor Makarenko, was charged under Article 190 of the Criminal Code ("violation of the equality of citizens") for refusing to sell goods to Russian military personnel and calling them occupiers.
On October 28, 2022, one of the pro-government Telegram channels published a post reporting the detention of the director of an auto parts store in Baranovichi. According to their information, the man told his subordinate: "Don't sell them anything, they are occupiers." The occupiers were Russian military personnel.
The director of an auto parts store was detained. A pro-government Telegram channel claimed that after the detention, evidence was found of the man's participation in the 2020 protests, as well as facts of money transfers to the Armed Forces of Ukraine made after February 24.
The man was indeed detained as part of a criminal case under Article 190 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus for three days, and was also arrested for 15 days under Article 19.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (dissemination of extremist materials).
The man remained free until the trial.
The Baranovichi District and Baranovichi City Court issued a verdict on February 16, 2023. Prosecutor Svetlana Pasemko requested a fine of 300 basic units (11,100 rubles) for Makarenko. Judge Artem Podolyanets sentenced the man to this punishment.
Even before the trial, the Baranovichi prosecutor filed a lawsuit in the economic court to terminate the activities of individual entrepreneur Makarenko. On December 19, 2022, the economic court stopped his activities. Viktor Makarenko worked as an individual entrepreneur since 1993, now the man is retired.
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Anatoly Krupin is 65 years old. From 1993 to 2015, he worked as a Security Service inspector at Minsk-2 Airport. In 2016, he was mentioned as the shift supervisor for aviation security and safety when a Russian citizen was detained at the airport for making an unfortunate joke about TNT in her luggage. Krupin commented on the situation. His last social media post dates back to June 2024.
He is expected to be released in April 2026.
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The owner of an agro-estate from the village of Chizhi. According to her friends, the woman has not been socially active since 2020. She was only involved in the agro-estate. But in 2020, the woman was in Svetlana Tikhanovskaya's initiative group and served 15 days of administrative arrest. For the past 2 years, she has actually been under the control of the local police officer.
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Lyudmila was arrested in October 2024 in connection with a criminal case opened under the article "creation of or participation in an extremist group." In August 2025, she was found guilty in the "yard chat case" and sentenced to imprisonment in a penal colony and a large fine.
She 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.
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Maret was detained in late October 2024 in Smorgon. A total of 12 people were caught in the Smorgon "purge," most of whom were released after 24 hours.
Has the 2nd non-working disability group.
On March 19, 2026, he was pardoned after another visit to Minsk by US President Donald Trump's special representative, John Cole (among a group of 235 prisoners left in Belarus).
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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.
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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 .
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At the end of May 2024, state media reported the detention of two Belarusian citizens at the Belarusian-Lithuanian border: one of them was on the international wanted list and was attempting to illegally cross the border into Lithuania, the other was a driver.
In a "confession video," Alexander admitted that in 2021 he left comments "approving" of the actions of Andrei Zeltser, who died in a shootout with KGB officer Dmitry Fedosyuk. Alexander is known to have lived in the United States for a long time.
In February 2025, he was convicted on four criminal charges, but the outcome of the sentence is still unknown. He is also reported to have serious health problems.
He was released in January 2026, having served his full sentence.