Nikita Petrovich Alekhine
Accomplice to crimes against the rights and freedoms of citizens of Belarus. Nikita Petrovich Alekhine is an employee of the security forces involved in politically motivated repressions, during which thousands of peaceful protesters, several hundred journalists, human rights defenders and activists were detained and subjected to violence. He was engaged in falsifying documents, including medical ones, in order to deprive them of the opportunity to receive medical care.
Alekhine used torture against Polina Sergeyevna Sharendo-Panasyuk, Tatyana Vasilyevna Kanevskaya, Victoria Aleksandrovna Kulsha. Anna Viktorovna Vishnyak was kept in a punishment cell with a broken window in December without warm clothes.
Accomplice to crimes against the rights and freedoms of citizens of Belarus. Nikita Petrovich Alekhine is an employee of the security forces involved in politically motivated repressions, during which thousands of peaceful protesters, several hundred journalists, human rights defenders and activists were detained and subjected to violence. He was engaged in falsifying documents, including medical ones, in order to deprive them of the opportunity to receive medical care.
Alekhine used torture against Polina Sergeyevna Sharendo-Panasyuk, Tatyana Vasilyevna Kanevskaya, Victoria Aleksandrovna Kulsha. Anna Viktorovna Vishnyak was kept in a punishment cell with a broken window in December without warm clothes.
List of repressed
- Associations
- Foreign citizens
Irina, a Russian citizen, was arrested on May 28, 2021, in Brest and convicted in September of that year for a tweet published on May 23. It contained a link to a LiveJournal post reprinting a BBC Russian Service report on the incident with the Ryanair flight carrying Roman Protasevich. She added her own headline to the reprint: "Lukashenko's latest crime: an act of state aviation piracy." The expression "an act of state aviation piracy" was used in the BBC text as a quote from the Greek Foreign Ministry's response.
On September 1, 2022, she was released after serving her sentence and immediately deported to Russia with a 10-year ban on entering Belarus.
Larisa was first arrested on September 27, 2020, and convicted of an administrative offense. After the trial, she suffered a seizure and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. Larisa suffers from depressive anxiety disorder and claustrophobia.
On August 6, 2021, security forces came to her workplace, conducted a search, and after interrogation, placed her in a temporary detention facility for three days. After this period, she was charged with violence or threat of violence against police officers for participating in a Sunday march on September 27, 2020, in Gomel, during which security forces used tear gas and stun grenades. According to the prosecution, Larisa "used brute force to grab a security officer by the arm, move him, and thereby obstruct his work."
In December 2021, Larisa was found guilty and sentenced to imprisonment in a penal colony.
She was released in May 2023, having fully served her sentence as imposed by the court.
Natalia was convicted in August 2021 in a criminal case opened on charges of insulting Lukashenko and destroying official documents. According to the prosecution, police officers arrived at Natalia's home on May 27, 2021. There, according to investigators, she "publicly insulted" Lukashenko with the words "we have a f*cking state" and "a f*cking president," thereby committing a crime, according to the prosecution. An hour later, investigators conducted a search of her apartment. During the search, the prosecution alleges, Natalia, "wanting to express her superiority and permissiveness," tore up the police report, thereby "damaging an official document."
She was released in March 2022 as part of a pardon.
- Associations
- Journalists
Irina, editor-in-chief and director of the BelaPAN news agency, was detained on August 18, 2021, following searches of her home and the agency's offices, as well as an interrogation. She was initially placed in pretrial detention for 72 hours as part of a criminal case under the article "organizing or preparing actions that grossly violate public order, or participating in them." However, she was not released and was transferred to a pretrial detention center 10 days later. The charge was later amended to tax evasion.
In November 2021, it was revealed that Irina had also been charged with "creating an extremist group." In October 2022, she was found guilty of "participating in an extremist group," sentenced to imprisonment, and banned from holding certain positions for five years.
Irina was released in December 2024, having fully served her sentence imposed by the court.
- Associations
- Activists
Anna, a prominent activist who supported Viktor Babaryka, was arrested on July 26, 2021, in connection with a criminal case opened for defamation against Lukashenko. In November of that year, she was found guilty and sentenced to imprisonment in a penal colony.
According to human rights activists, she was released in the spring of 2024, having fully served her sentence.
- Associations
Nadezhda, the vocalist of the band IRDORATH, was detained on the evening of August 2, 2021, at a dacha near Minsk while celebrating her birthday with other musicians and guests.
In December of that year, she was found guilty of "organizing and preparing actions that grossly violate public order, or actively participating in them" for her participation in post-election protests that took place in Minsk in 2020.
She was released in April 2023, having fully served her sentence as imposed by the court.
- Associations
Yulia, a choral conductor and backing vocalist for several projects by the band IRDORATH, was detained on the evening of August 2, 2021, at a dacha near Minsk during the birthday celebration of IRDORATH vocalist Nadezhda Kalach, along with other musicians, as part of a criminal case.
In December of that year, she was found guilty of "organizing actions that grossly violate public order, as well as training or other preparation of individuals to participate in such actions" for her participation in post-election protests that took place in Minsk in 2020.
She was released in October 2022, having fully served her sentence as imposed by the court.
- Associations
- Civil servants
- Parents of minors
Previously, Tatyana worked at the Lida District Executive Committee as a senior inspector in the documentation department. In August 2021, she was convicted in a criminal case brought under the articles "insulting a government official" and "insulting Lukashenko" and sentenced to imprisonment in a penal colony. She was taken into custody in the courtroom. At the time of her arrest, Tatyana was on maternity leave.
In January 2023, she was released, having fully served her sentence.
- Associations
- Activists
- Parents of minors
Yulia was first convicted, along with her husband, of "participating in group actions grossly violating public order" in a criminal case opened following a protest that took place on September 13, 2020, in Brest. During the protest, people were singing and dancing in circles, but a water cannon was used against them. The court sentenced Yulia to a restricted freedom order in the form of "house arrest."
Several months later, on October 13, 2021, her home was searched, after which she was detained in connection with a new criminal case and placed in pretrial detention. She was convicted a second time in July 2022 on six criminal charges, accused of providing information about officials involved in the criminal prosecution of her family. The court sentenced Yulia to imprisonment and a fine. On appeal, the court reduced her prison term by only three months and reduced the fine. Ultimately, her final sentence was 4 years and 9 months.
In January 2025, it became known that Yulia had been tried for a third time under the article on “assisting extremist activity.”
In the fall of 2025 , she was released, having fully served her sentence.
- Associations
- Activists
- Parents of minors
Marina, a confidant of presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, was detained on July 9, 2021, as part of a "KGB operation to purge radicals" and placed in pretrial detention on charges of financing the activities of an extremist group.
On November 10, 2021, the charge was reclassified to a more lenient charge—"training and preparing individuals to participate in actions that grossly violate public order, as well as their financing or other material support." After this, she was placed under house arrest.
On November 11, 2022, the court sentenced Marina to one and a half years of imprisonment in a general regime penal colony, taking her into custody in the courtroom.
She was released in June 2023, having fully served her sentence as imposed by the court.
Lyudmila was convicted of insulting Lukashenko and arrested right in the courtroom. According to the prosecution, on August 12, 2020, she posted a long message with expressions addressed to Lukashenko on the social network VKontakte from her husband's account. At the trial, the woman explained that she published it for herself and did not realize that the post was available to other users. According to her, the page usually posted photos of animals, and this message was published publicly by mistake.
Lyudmila was released on March 9, 2022, as part of a pardon.
- Associations
- Administrators of TG-channels
- Foreign citizens
- Students
Sofia, a student at the European Humanities University and a citizen of the Russian Federation, was detained in May 2021 after the forced landing of a Ryanair flight in Minsk by Belarusian authorities. The plane was en route from Athens to Vilnius. Sofia was accused of administering the Telegram channel "Black Book of Belarus", which published personal data and information about the private lives of civil servants.
At the end of December 2021, she was finally charged under seven articles of the Criminal Code, after which the case was referred to court.
The case was heard behind closed doors. In May 2022, Sofia was found guilty of two criminal charges. Following the trial, she was sentenced to imprisonment and ordered to pay compensation to the victims and court fees totaling about $70,000. The entire amount was subsequently paid by her family.
Sofia was released in June 2023 as part of a pardon.
- Associations
- Activists
- Bloggers
- Parents of minors
Olga, a blogger and designer, has been repeatedly persecuted and detained under administrative articles following the events that followed the 2020 elections in Minsk. In May 2021, her home was searched, after which Olga was detained as part of a criminal case opened on charges of "organizing and preparing actions that grossly violate public order, or actively participating in them." Before that, she was already a suspect under two articles of the Criminal Code - "insulting a judge" and "slandering an election commission employee."
In December of the same year, Olga was convicted and sentenced to imprisonment.
She was released in June 2022, having served her full sentence as determined by the court.
- Associations
- Journalists
Marina has been the editor-in-chief of TUT.BY since 2004 and is known for her interest in Balkan culture and her knowledge of the Bulgarian language.
In 2019, she was fined in a criminal case under the article "inaction of an official" for accessing BelTA materials; human rights activists deemed the case politically motivated.
In May 2021, she was arrested on charges of tax evasion, but the charge was later dropped.
In October 2022, the KGB added Marina to its list of persons "involved in terrorist activity." She was later also charged with "inciting hatred" and "calls for actions against national security."
The trial was held behind closed doors and lasted more than two months, with 37 hearings in total. In March 2023, she was sentenced to a lengthy prison term.
On December 13, 2025, she was released after another visit to Minsk by US President Donald Trump's special representative, John Cole, and taken to Ukraine.
Alina was convicted for performances with mannequins in the form of police officers with the inscription "OMON". Before her arrest in the courtroom, she had been under house arrest since January 2021.
She was released in February 2022, having fully served her sentence.
