Alena Dzmitryyeuna Pyrkh
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- Alena Dzmitryyeuna Pyrkh
Alena Dzmitryyeuna Pyrkh
Penal Colony No. 4, Department of Correctional Institutions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Gomel Region and the City of Gomel. Employee of the penal department. Assistant to the duty assistant to the warden of the penal colony.
Elena Dmitrievna Pyrkh participated in the persecution of political prisoners. All provocations by the penal institution administration took place under her supervision. She was present during all searches of the political prisoners' cells, displaying aggression, threatening, and insulting female prisoners.
Prohibited items, usually pills or needles, were planted in the cells of women who, in the administration's opinion, needed punishment, and Pyrkh then "found" them. She then took the prisoner to the penal department and filed a report.
Another form of psychological pressure was "fire safety drills," when Pyrkh would suddenly appear in the unit and demand that all prisoners "take out" their belongings in an organized manner within 10 minutes. If the prisoners failed to complete this task within the allotted time, the process would begin again.
Pyrkh would shout, insult, and humiliate the prisoners. If she didn't like something, she would force the entire unit to stand in the sun, rain, or cold for several hours, during which time they would be required to read the prison rules.
She often filed reports on political prisoners and demanded stricter conditions for them at commission meetings, including insisting on solitary confinement in place of a reprimand, deprivation of visits, parcel delivery, and so on at punishment commissions.
These actions directly indicate complicity with the Lukashenko regime's repressive policies against those who do not support the government and violate prisoners' rights to humane treatment.
Penal Colony No. 4, Department of Correctional Institutions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Gomel Region and the City of Gomel. Employee of the penal department. Assistant to the duty assistant to the warden of the penal colony.
Elena Dmitrievna Pyrkh participated in the persecution of political prisoners. All provocations by the penal institution administration took place under her supervision. She was present during all searches of the political prisoners' cells, displaying aggression, threatening, and insulting female prisoners.
Prohibited items, usually pills or needles, were planted in the cells of women who, in the administration's opinion, needed punishment, and Pyrkh then "found" them. She then took the prisoner to the penal department and filed a report.
Another form of psychological pressure was "fire safety drills," when Pyrkh would suddenly appear in the unit and demand that all prisoners "take out" their belongings in an organized manner within 10 minutes. If the prisoners failed to complete this task within the allotted time, the process would begin again.
Pyrkh would shout, insult, and humiliate the prisoners. If she didn't like something, she would force the entire unit to stand in the sun, rain, or cold for several hours, during which time they would be required to read the prison rules.
She often filed reports on political prisoners and demanded stricter conditions for them at commission meetings, including insisting on solitary confinement in place of a reprimand, deprivation of visits, parcel delivery, and so on at punishment commissions.
These actions directly indicate complicity with the Lukashenko regime's repressive policies against those who do not support the government and violate prisoners' rights to humane treatment.
List of repressed
Lilia was detained in late March 2023 and sentenced to 10 days of administrative arrest. However, in April 2024, it became known that she had been detained in connection with a criminal case opened under the articles "defamation of Lukashenko," "insulting a judge," "insulting a government official," and "insulting Lukashenko."
In December 2024, Lilia was found guilty and sentenced to imprisonment in a penal colony.
She was released on March 20, 2026, as part of a pardon following another visit to Minsk by US President Donald Trump's special representative, John Cole.
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Detained together with her husband Alexey. According to court schedules, they want to collect money from Lyudmila and Alexey through the court for the maintenance of their children while they are in custody.
Lyudmila has 3 children, two of them are minors.
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On August 2, 2024, the appeal was heard and the verdict came into force.
She was released in March 2025, having fully served her sentence as imposed by the court.
According to the prosecution , Elena Dubrovskaya, using a mobile phone, under a post with a photograph of Alexander Lukashenko, published in a chat included in the Republican list of extremist materials, posted a comment with a negative assessment of Lukashenko’s personality, containing an obscene form of speech expression. At the court hearing, the woman fully admitted her guilt.
Elena Dubrovskaya filed an appeal. The Judicial Collegium of the Mogilev Regional Court considered it on June 20, but left the complaint unsatisfied and the verdict unchanged.
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It is unknown when Daria was detained , but probably in the fall of 2023. She is accused of two articles - Part 1 of Art. 342 of the Criminal Code and Part 2 of Art. 361-3.
The first article is organizing or participating in actions that grossly violate public order. The second is recruitment, training, other preparation or use of Belarusians to participate in a war on the territory of another state, as well as financing or other material support for such activities. It is usually given to those who helped Ukraine in some way.
It is known that after graduating from the philological department of BSU, Daria went to work at gymnasium No. 23 in Minsk, where she herself studied. She also entered the master's program at the Faculty of Philology of BSU.
On July 23, 2024, the appeal was considered and the verdict came into force.
As stated in the resolution, she was a language consultant for the Belsat television channel, which is recognized as an “extremist formation” in Belarus. According to the verdict, from June 19, 2021 to November 15, 2023, Anastasia Matyash was a language consultant for the Polish television "TVP", which includes the Polish television channel "BELSAT tv BELSAT". During her work, she allegedly conducted language consultations, translated, corrected and edited texts, which were then used on BELSAT. The resolution also states that for participation in “extremist activities” Anastasia Matyash allegedly received “criminal” income, 40,000 Polish zlotys, 12,258 dollars and 8,575 euros.
Anastasia Matyash did not admit her guilt.
On April 11, 2024, the case was heard in closed session by Judge Sergei Solovsky. Veronika was sentenced to imprisonment.
08/15/2024 released , having fully served the sentence imposed by the court.
She was detained as a result of a massive raid by security forces on January 23-24, 2024, targeting relatives of political prisoners and people who sent parcels and letters to political prisoners.
On March 19, 2026, she was pardoned after another visit to Minsk by US President Donald Trump's special representative, John Cole (among a group of 235 prisoners left in Belarus).
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The trial of the second group of Baranovichi residents (9 people) began on March 28, 2024. Elena was among them. The verdict was handed down on April 11.
According to the prosecution , in August 2020, the convicted persons "shouted slogans, demonstrated white-red-white banners, obstructed the movement of vehicles and the normal functioning of enterprises and organizations."
Elena worked as a Belarusian language teacher until retirement.
The trial of the second group of Baranovichi residents (9 people) began on March 28, 2024. Olga was among them. The verdict was handed down on April 11.
According to the prosecution , in August 2020, the convicted persons "shouted slogans, demonstrated white-red-white banners, obstructed the movement of vehicles and the normal functioning of enterprises and organizations."
On July 21, 2024, the appeal was heard and the verdict came into force.
According to human rights activists, she will be released in the fall of 2024.
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Natalia Davydulina is 47 years old and lives in Zhlobin. It's known from her social media that she and her husband have a large family—five children, one of whom is still in elementary school.
One of Natalia's sons, Denis Davydulin, is a former political prisoner. He was arrested in March 2021 and sentenced to eighteen months in prison for "walking onto the roadway and actively disobeying police officers" on the night of August 10th.
She has never given media interviews. Court records indicate she was tried on January 24, 2024, for "disseminating extremist materials." She was likely detained during a roundup of supporters of political prisoners.
The trial will begin on August 23 in the Gomel Regional Court. Therefore, Natalia is most likely accused of assisting other prisoners in some way. It is known that during the January raid, those who remained behind bars were primarily those who helped others—sending money transfers and parcels to pretrial detention centers and penal colonies, even for very small amounts.
On March 19, 2026, she was pardoned after another visit to Minsk by US President Donald Trump's special representative, John Cole (among a group of 235 prisoners left in Belarus).
Kateryna was detained after a "solidarity raid" in late January 2024 on charges of supporting political prisoners and their families—she sent packages and made money transfers to prisoners in pretrial detention. Prior to this, she had been convicted at least twice on political administrative charges after crossing the border; it is unknown whether she lived abroad. She studied at the University of Warsaw and lived in Poland for a long time.
In the fall of 2024, Ekaterina was convicted of "assisting extremist activity" and sentenced to imprisonment in a penal colony.
On December 13, 2025, she was released following a visit to Minsk by US President Donald Trump's special representative, John Cole, and taken to Ukraine.
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Alesya, a mother of two and the wife of political prisoner Maxim Sergienko, was detained in a massive security raid in January 2024 targeting relatives of political prisoners and people who sent parcels and letters to prisoners.
On February 21, the Oktyabrsky District Court of Mogilev heard Alesya's case under Decree No. 7 "On Foreign Gratuitous Aid." Under this decree, those targeted by a mass investigation conducted in late January 2024 are being tried in Belarus. At the time, KGB officers were attempting to determine who received food aid from abroad through the activities of INeedHelp, an organization designated as a so-called "extremist organization."
In July 2024, Alesya was tried for "assisting extremist activity" and sentenced to imprisonment in a penal colony.
On December 13, 2025, she was released following a visit to Minsk by US President Donald Trump's special representative, John Cole, and taken to Ukraine.
She was detained on January 23, 2024, during a massive raid by security forces on the relatives of political prisoners and people who helped them.
On March 19, 2026, she was pardoned after another visit to Minsk by US President Donald Trump's special representative, John Cole (among a group of 235 prisoners left in Belarus).
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Citizen of Ukraine from Chernigov. Sometimes she went to Belarus, and as a result she was detained. Natalya has two sons; the youngest was 2.5 months old at the time of his arrest. The trial took place behind closed doors. On March 12, 2024, the appeal was considered and the verdict entered into force.
On the evening of June 28, 2024, sudden information appeared about the release of five political prisoners from Belarusian colonies. The Ukrainian authorities achieved the release of their exchange citizens as prisoners. This is how Natalya Zakharenko, Pavel Kuprienko, Lyudmila Goncharenko, Ekaterina Bryukhanova, as well as Nikolai Shvets, a defendant in the “Machulishchi case,” were released. The terms of the exchange were not disclosed. It is noted that the Vatican took part in the liberation. The released political prisoners were brought to Ukraine on June 28 - their photo from the Zhulyany airport appeared in the media.