On the afternoon of September 19, law enforcement officers, claiming to be from the Oktyabrsky District Criminal Investigation Department in Grodno, raided the home of Andrei Meleshko's ailing mother. On September 30, they began to stink at his sister. According to the criminal investigation officers, the criminal case was opened because of two interviews he gave in 2023 and 2024 to media outlets designated as "extremist groups" in Belarus.
Recently, the Ministry of Information added Andrei Meleshko's Instagram accounts, amialeshka and batumiby.ge, and the journalist's Telegram channel, "Sakartvelo-Belarus," which sells merchandise with Belarusian symbols, to its list of "extremist" materials. Meleshko also claims that in 2023, criminal cases were opened against him for participating in "extremist" groups—the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) and Radio Racyja. However, there have been no further developments in these cases; at least, Andrei hasn't been informed of anything.
Andrei was arrested and convicted of "calls to actions aimed at harming the national security of the Republic of Belarus" and "insulting Lukashenko" and sentenced to imprisonment. The trial is likely to take place in mid-2025.
On December 13, 2025, he was released following a visit to Minsk by US President Donald Trump's special representative, John Cole, and taken to Ukraine.
Trial outcome date unknown
unknown years of imprisonment in colony under general regime conditions.
Appeal date unknown
unknown.
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