All persecuted

Yuri, a politician and lawyer, was arrested on April 12, 2021, in a criminal case opened under the article "conspiracy or other actions committed with the aim of seizing state power." In September 2022, he was sentenced to a long prison term on several criminal charges, despite the fact that he fully admitted his guilt and entered into an agreement with the investigation.

In December 2022, he was convicted again for “insulting a government official.” According to the state-run newspaper Minska Pravda, in 2020–2021, he allegedly repeatedly left offensive comments on a Telegram channel recognized as extremist.

In June 2023, Yuri's sentence was increased, and he was transferred to prison regime. In August 2024, he was convicted of "malicious disobedience to the demands of the colony administration" - an article under which prisoners are tried for refusing to cooperate or for fictitious violations. As a result, taking into account all the court's decisions, his total term of imprisonment was 13 years and 6 months.

Yuri is under constant pressure: he has been repeatedly sent to solitary confinement, deprived of parcels and the opportunity to shop. In protest, he has gone on hunger strike several times. It is also known that he has serious health problems.

Yauhen Yushkevich is a former investigator from the Investigative Committee. In 2017, he resigned from his position as a senior investigator of the Economic Crime Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee Office in Minsk, and in 2020 he became the developer and initiated the bychange.me project, which helped to provide a different education for law enforcement officers, civil servants, and people who were fired or quit their jobs on grounds of conscience.

The man was tried for more than a month in a closed-door trial on six articles of the Criminal Code, including "organisation of mass disorder" in 2020, "inciting social hatred" in interviews and texts on social media, and "threatening violence" to the head of the Temporary Detention Facility (IVS) on Okrestina via a tweet. It is reported that Yushkevich was "an active participant in the Telegram chat "HATA", whose activities are aimed at organising extremist crimes".

Alexander, a well-known Belarusian political scientist and literary scholar, was previously part of Lukashenko's election team, and after his victory, briefly worked in his administration. He subsequently resigned and became one of the most vocal critics of the first president of Belarus.

On April 12, 2021, he was detained in Moscow and later extradited. As part of the criminal case, he was charged under the article "conspiracy or other actions committed with the aim of seizing state power." In September 2022, he was sentenced to a long prison term.

Vladimir Zhikhar has been in custody since September 13, 2020. He is charged under three articles: roadblocking, violence against police, and even robbery.

Alexander was detained in a criminal case opened after a protest that took place in Pinsk on the night of August 9-10, 2020 against falsifications in the presidential elections. He was convicted of participating in "mass riots."

Andrei was detained in a criminal case opened after a protest that took place in Pinsk on the night of August 9-10, 2020 against falsifications in the presidential elections. He was convicted of participating in "mass riots."

Ilya was convicted of attempting to set fire to the Zhodino prosecutor's office building in October 2020. According to investigators, he set fire to a manufactured device on the porch to express disdain for law enforcement. As a result of the scattering of a mixture of petroleum products and bottle fragments, the front door and canopy were damaged, causing damages of more than 1,500 rubles.

An activist of the "Country for Life" and a member of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya's team, Alexander has been repeatedly detained under political administrative articles. He was detained along with another activist, Oleg Boroznaya, who were known to have been under surveillance since the fall of 2020. Alexander was subsequently convicted on fabricated drug-related criminal charges.

Sergei was arrested on March 23, 2021, for standing up for his mother when OMON and GUBOPiK were violently detaining her in her own apartment. He was convicted of "threatening to use violence against an internal affairs officer."

In 2024, on the day of his release, he was rearrested, and in July of that year he was re-convicted under the article “malicious disobedience to the demands of the administration of a correctional institution” - an article under which prisoners are tried for refusing to cooperate with the administration and for fictitious violations.

Alexey, an activist in the anarchist movement, was detained in March 2021 as part of a criminal case brought against anarchists from the Brest region. He was convicted under several criminal articles, such as “participation in group actions that grossly violate public order” and “creation of an extremist group and participation in it.”

It is known that the charges are based on the episode with the blocking of roads in Brest in 2018 during a protest against the construction of the battery plant, as well as participation in the "March of the Non-Parasites", which took place on March 5, 2017.

Alexander was detained in a criminal case opened after a protest that took place in Pinsk on the night of August 9-10, 2020 against falsifications in the presidential elections. He was convicted of participating in "mass riots."

Yakov was detained in a criminal case opened after spontaneous protests against falsifications in the presidential elections that took place in Brest on August 10, 2020. He was convicted of participating in "mass riots."

Yakov graduated from the Brest Builders' Lyceum and was assigned to work, but was unable to start working due to his detention. In May 2022, the Brest Moscow Court ordered him to pay compensation for failure to work and a state fee.

Andrei is a Grodno journalist, publicist and member of the Union of Poles in Belarus. In 2011, he was sentenced to 3 years of imprisonment with a 2-year suspended sentence on charges of slandering Lukashenko. He was released in the courtroom on his own recognizance not to leave. In 2012, a new criminal case was opened against him for publications in the media, but in 2013 it was closed due to lack of evidence. In the autumn of the same year, he was released from serving his sentence in the first case.

On March 25, 2021, Andrei was detained again. He was accused of inciting hatred and calling for sanctions. The charges included articles about the 2020 Belarusian protests, the protection of the Polish minority, and publications about the USSR's attack on Poland in 1939. He spent more than 1.5 years in pretrial detention and was convicted in February 2023.

It is known that Andrey refused to write a petition for pardon. At present, he continues to be subjected to pressure, is deprived of visits and parcels. There are also no calls from him.

Andrei was detained in a criminal case opened after a protest that took place in Pinsk on the night of August 9-10, 2020 against falsifications in the presidential elections. He was convicted of participating in "mass riots."

Alexander was detained in October 2020 and charged with participating in the events that took place on October 11, 2020, near the Pushkinskaya metro station, when people tried to protect a peaceful protester from being beaten by riot police. During his detention, he was threatened, forced to testify on video, and his leg was broken in five places. He was admitted to the pretrial detention center with a cast after interrogations.