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Nikita was arrested in October 2019 and convicted of attacks on the buildings of Pretrial Detention Center No. 1 and the Minsk City Court in Minsk in solidarity with political prisoners. He was initially sentenced to seven years in prison, but on appeal, his sentence was reduced to four years. In May 2020, Nikita was transferred to a prison regime.
In March 2022, he was convicted again of "malicious disobedience to the demands of the correctional facility administration"—a charge often applied to inmates who refuse to cooperate with prison authorities. In March 2023, he was transferred back to the prison regime.
Throughout his imprisonment, Nikita has been subjected to constant pressure. He is frequently placed in solitary confinement, where he is held in isolation for dozens of days. He is denied visits from his family, his correspondence is restricted, and his personal belongings are confiscated. In response to the harsh conditions, Nikita protests with hunger strikes and by refusing to comply with the administration's demands. He is also regularly subjected to penalties for minor infractions, such as refusing to clean the courtyard or for inter-cell communication.
Three months before his release, in February 2025, Nikita faced another court hearing on charges of "malicious disobedience to the demands of the administration of a correctional facility," as a result of which he was sentenced to another year of imprisonment.
By December 2024, Nikita had spent a total of 568 days in solitary confinement, including two months of continuous isolation.
As of the beginning of December 2025, Nikita had spent 648 days in solitary confinement.
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Belarusian translator, literary scholar, and publisher. One of the most renowned popularizers of translated world literature.
Dmitry, the son of literary critic Georgy Kolos and brother of film director and teacher Vladimir Kolos, made a name for himself in the 1980s with his translations from French into Belarusian. Since the 1990s, Kolos has been involved in publishing. The Zmitser Kolas Publishing House is known for publishing world poetry, prose, and plays in the best Belarusian translations.
Dmitry was previously detained by the KGB in early March 2023. However, he was released after 10 days in custody, which he spent in a KGB pretrial detention facility. He has not been charged.
In February 2026, Dmitry was arrested again, amid mass arrests of book publishers and distributors. Dmitry spent 14 days in the Okrestina detention center, after which he was never released. On March 3, 2026, a coalition of print publishers, including the Kamunikat.org Foundation, Lohvinau Publishing House, and Andrei Yanushkevich Publishing, was added to the Ministry of Internal Affairs' updated list of "extremist groups." Yaroslav Ivanyuk, Dmitry Kolos , Igor Logvinov, Vaclav Bogdanovich, Andrei Yanushkevich, and Alexander Evdakha were named in connection with the group. The publishers' websites and social media accounts were also added.