Vladimir Mikhailovich Stepurko

Ales is the chairman and founder of the Viasna Human Rights Center and former vice president of the International Federation for Human Rights. He is a laureate of the Andrei Sakharov Freedom Prize and other international human rights awards. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize five times and won it in 2022.

Ales had previously been prosecuted. On August 4, 2011, he was arrested after Lithuania and Poland handed over his bank account information to Belarusian authorities. He was charged with concealing income on an especially large scale. On November 24, 2011, the court sentenced him to imprisonment in a maximum-security penal colony with confiscation of property. Ales pleaded not guilty, claiming that the funds were used exclusively for human rights activities. EU countries, the United States, and international human rights organizations recognized him as a political prisoner, and his sentence was politically motivated. He was released in the summer of 2014 under an amnesty.

On July 14, 2021, Ales was arrested again following a search of his apartment and office as part of a tax evasion case. In September 2022, that case was dropped, but he was charged with new charges of smuggling and financing group activities that grossly violate public order.

In March 2023, he was convicted and sentenced to imprisonment and ordered to pay substantial compensation. He pleaded not guilty in court.

In early November 2023, Ales was placed in a PKT for trumped-up reasons. In April–May 2024, he was returned to his unit, but he continues to be under increased scrutiny. He works in woodworking, receives penalties, and is deprived of parcels, video calls, and correspondence. It is known that his previous stint in the Bobruisk penal colony has left him with health problems that persist.

Nikita was detained in October 2019 and convicted of attacks on the buildings of Pre-trial Detention Center No. 1 and the Minsk City Court in Minsk in solidarity with political prisoners. He was initially sentenced to 7 years in prison, but after an appeal, the term was reduced to 4 years. In May 2020, Nikita was transferred to prison regime.

In March 2022, he was convicted again of “malicious disobedience to the demands of correctional authorities,” a charge often applied to inmates who refuse to cooperate with prison authorities. In March 2023, he was transferred back to prison mode.

Throughout his imprisonment, Nikita is constantly under pressure. He is often sent to solitary confinement, where he is kept in isolation for dozens of days. He is deprived of visits from his family, his correspondence is restricted, and his personal belongings are confiscated. In response to the harsh conditions of detention, Nikita protests with hunger strikes and by refusing to comply with the administration's demands. He is also regularly subjected to penalties for minor violations, such as refusing to clean the courtyard or for inter-cell communication.

Three months before his release, in February 2025, Nikita had 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 2 months of continuous isolation.