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.
✏️ A postcard with words of encouragement (a poem by your favorite author, song lyrics, or a beautiful quote). Trust us, even such simple gestures are very meaningful to a person in jail.
✏️ Your life events. To a person who is in isolation for a long time, any story about your routine endeavors will be a window into normal life. Your day-to-day worries and mundane matters are much more interesting than the daily grind of life behind bars.
✏️ It is important to share news. Mention the most notable and interesting occurrences depending on your pen-pal's interests.
✍️️ Remember that every letter is censored. This means that your letters are read by strangers whose main goal is to limit inmates' access to information or to use it against the prisoners or even you.
So try to avoid:
👉️️ harsh statements regarding ongoing political matters
👉 statements against the authorities and public servants
👉 foul language
👉 discussion of the circumstances of the criminal case
To ensure that none of political prisoners are left without attention and support the site has a function of verified sendings.
Please attach a photo or a screenshot for transfer verification. The new transfer will be posted on the site as soon as it is verified by the moderator!
Support actions
You can upload an image from the support event, and after passing moderation we will publish it.
Respond to help those released
Do you want to help a released political prisoner? Send your contact to Telegram and we will contact you.
A Keeper means you want to regularly help a specific person in prison through their family. Choose a political prisoner and click «Become a Keeper», our team will contact you shortly.
You can request the letters that we have in storage, for this, leave your telegram account for feedback, we will contact you and, after verifying your identity, we will transfer the archive with your letters.
Are you a relative or someone close to a political prisoner? Send us a short description and your Telegram contact for feedback. After data verification we will publish your relative on the website.
Do you have information about administrative prosecution? Please send us a short description and your Telegram contact for feedback. After checking the data, we will publish your information on the site.
Please leave your contact on Telegram and describe your skills in as much detail as possible. After moderation, your CV will be published on the website.
Multi upload allows you to send confirmations with one photo to several political prisoners at once, check the selected people before sending!
Please attach a photo or a screenshot for transfer verification. The new transfer will be posted on the site as soon as it is verified by the moderator!
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