Belarusian media workers behind bars. Portraits

As cam­paign­ing for the 2020 elec­tions began, the Belaru­sian author­i­ties launched a war on jour­nal­ists and inde­pen­dent media.

They were stripped of their press cards, beat­en, shot with rub­ber bul­lets, arrest­ed and detained for weeks, and charged with crim­i­nal offens­es. Since then, jour­nal­ists have been arrest­ed on more than 500 occa­sions.

The Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists mon­i­tors all cas­es of harass­ment of jour­nal­ists and media work­ers. Below, you will find infor­ma­tion on those impris­oned on crim­i­nal charges. 

Kanstantsin Zalatykh, director of Belarusy i Rynok newspaper, behind bars since 18 May 2022

The direc­tor of the week­ly news­pa­per Belorusy i Rynok was arrest­ed on 18 May 2022 after a search in the edi­to­r­i­al office. In June, a crim­i­nal case was brought against him for alleged incite­ment of hatred. He was charged with sev­er­al polit­i­cal arti­cles, most of which were of a defam­a­to­ry nature, name­ly the pub­lic dis­sem­i­na­tion of infor­ma­tion bring­ing into dis­re­pute the hon­or and dig­ni­ty of a pub­lic offi­cial. On 6 April 2023, he was sen­tenced to four years in prison.

Human rights activists rec­og­nized him as a polit­i­cal pris­on­er.

Judge: Ale­na Shylko

Sen­tence: 4 years of impris­on­ment under Part 2 of Arti­cle 130 (incite­ment of racial, nation­al, reli­gious, or oth­er social hatred or enmi­ty), Part 1 of Arti­cle 368 (insult­ing Lukashen­ka), Arti­cle 369 (insult­ing an offi­cial), Part 2 of Arti­cle 426 (abuse of office).

Birth­day: 5 July 1969

Siarhei Satsuk, journalist and editor at Ezhednevnik, behind bars since 8 December 2021

A pio­neer of inves­tiga­tive jour­nal­ism in Belarus was arrest­ed on 8 Decem­ber 2021 after his home was searched. He was tak­en for ques­tion­ing by the Inves­tiga­tive Com­mit­tee under Arti­cle 430 of the Crim­i­nal Code (bribe-tak­ing).

On 25 March 2020, Sat­suk had already been arrest­ed in the same case. The human rights orga­ni­za­tions then point­ed to “a polit­i­cal motive behind the pros­e­cu­tion of the jour­nal­ist, aimed at forc­ing him to stop spread­ing infor­ma­tion about cor­rup­tion.” On 4 April 2020, the Gen­er­al Pros­e­cu­tor’s Office of Belarus can­celed the deci­sion to take Siarhei Sat­suk into cus­tody.

In June 2022, it became known that the jour­nal­ist was also accused of incit­ing social hatred (Arti­cle 130 of the Crim­i­nal Code) and abuse of office (Arti­cle 426 of the Crim­i­nal Code). It is not known what spe­cif­ic actions of the edi­tor are relat­ed to the charges.

On 26 Octo­ber 2022, Min­sk City Court sen­tenced Siarhei Sat­suk to 8 years in prison. He was also pun­ished with a fine of $11,100. Accord­ing to the Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists, Sat­suk’s sen­tence is an act of revenge for his high-pro­file inves­ti­ga­tions.

Human rights activists rec­og­nized the jour­nal­ist as a polit­i­cal pris­on­er.

Sen­tence: 8 years of impris­on­ment under Arti­cles 430 (bribe-tak­ing), 130 (incit­ing social hatred or enmi­ty), and 426 of the Crim­i­nal Code (abuse of office).

Judge: Svi­at­lana Ban­daren­ka

Birth­day: 15 April 1968

 

Dzmitry Navazhylau, former general director of BelaPAN media agency, behind bars since 18 August 2021

In the 1990s, Dzmit­ry Navazhy­lau worked with Pavel Sharemet as an ORT TV chan­nel cor­re­spon­dent in Belarus. He then head­ed the news office of Chan­nel One Rus­sia. Since 2015, he worked with Bela­PAN. When the agen­cy’s founder, Ales Lipai, dis­eased in August 2018, Navazhy­lau became act­ing and then gen­er­al direc­tor. In Jan­u­ary 2021, Navazhy­lau resigned, but he was any­way searched and arrest­ed on 18 August 2021. Navazhy­lau, sus­pect­ed of par­tic­i­pat­ing in group actions vio­lat­ing pub­lic order, was not released after three days in a deten­tion cen­ter.

On 6 Octo­ber 2022, Min­sk Region­al Court sen­tenced Navazhy­lau to 6 years of impris­on­ment for estab­lish­ing and man­ag­ing an “extrem­ist for­ma­tion” and tax eva­sion.

Human rights activists rec­og­nized him as a polit­i­cal pris­on­er.

Sen­tence: 6 years of impris­on­ment under Arti­cle 361–1 of the Crim­i­nal Code (estab­lish­ing and man­ag­ing an extrem­ist for­ma­tion) and Arti­cle 243 of the Crim­i­nal Code (tax eva­sion).

Judge: Viachaslau Tulei­ka

Birth­day: 12 August 1972

Valeria Kastsiuhova, political scientist, journalist, behind bars since 30 June 2021

Vale­ria Kast­si­uho­va, founder and long-time edi­tor of the Nashe Mne­nie expert com­mu­ni­ty web­site and author of the Belaru­sian Year­book pub­li­ca­tion, was arrest­ed on 30 June 2021. She was charged with “con­spir­a­cy or oth­er actions aimed at seiz­ing pow­er”, “com­plic­i­ty in crimes” and “encour­ag­ing actions aimed at harm­ing the nation­al secu­ri­ty of Belarus.” The details of the case have not been dis­closed, since the lawyer signed a non-dis­clo­sure state­ment. The ver­dict was hand­ed down on 17 March 2023.

Vale­ria Kast­si­uho­va’s father died while she was in cus­tody. Human rights activists rec­og­nized her as a polit­i­cal pris­on­er.

Sen­tence: 10 years of impris­on­ment under Part 1 Arti­cle 357 (con­spir­a­cy or oth­er actions aimed at seiz­ing pow­er) and Part 3 Arti­cle 361 of the Crim­i­nal Code (encour­ag­ing actions aimed at harm­ing the nation­al secu­ri­ty of Belarus).

Judge: Dzi­na Kuchuk

Birth­day: 30 Decem­ber 1967

Maryna Zolatava, TUT.BY editor-in-chief, behind bars since 18 May 2021

The per­ma­nent (since 2004) edi­tor-in-chief of TUT.BY, Mary­na Zolata­va, was arrest­ed on 18 May 2021 along with 14 oth­er defen­dants in the “TUT.BY case”. She was accused of com­plic­i­ty in large-scale tax eva­sion.

All in all, 15 TUT.BY staff mem­bers were remand­ed, includ­ing the edi­to­r­i­al staff, whose work is not con­nect­ed with the eco­nom­ic activ­i­ty of the com­pa­ny, tax pay­ment, or legal aspects. The TUT.BY web­site was blocked for pub­lish­ing “infor­ma­tion pro­hib­it­ed by law.”

On 9 Jan­u­ary 2023, the tri­al began in Min­sk City Court and was held in cam­era. The ver­dict was announced on March 17.

Human rights activists declared Zolata­va a polit­i­cal pris­on­er.

Sen­tence: 12 years of impris­on­ment under Part 2 of Arti­cle 243 (grand tax eva­sion); Part 3 of Arti­cle 130 (incite­ment of racial, nation­al, reli­gious, or oth­er social hatred); Part 3 of Arti­cle 361 (encour­ag­ing actions aimed at harm­ing the nation­al secu­ri­ty of the Repub­lic of Belarus).

Mary­na Zolata­va was a final­ist for the 2022 Belaru­sian Human Rights Com­mu­ni­ty Award in the cat­e­go­ry “Jour­nal­ist of the Year.”

Judge: Valiantsi­na Zianke­vich

Pub­lic pros­e­cu­tor: Tat­siana Hrakun

Birth­day: 6 Novem­ber 1977

Ludmila Chekina, TUT.BY general director, behind bars since 18 May 2021

Lud­mi­la Chek­ina was arrest­ed along with oth­er defen­dants in the “TUY.BY case” on charges of grand tax eva­sion.

Human rights activists rec­og­nized Chek­ina as a polit­i­cal pris­on­er.

Over the fol­low­ing year, three defen­dants in the case—Alena Talk­a­cho­va, Vol­ha Loi­ka, and Kat­siary­na Tkachenka—were released from cus­tody and left the coun­try. Their crim­i­nal cas­es were sev­ered, and they were declared want­ed.

The tri­al of Lud­mi­la Chek­ina and Tut.by edi­tor-in-chief Mary­na Zolata­va began on Jan­u­ary 9, 2023, in the Min­sk City Court. The ver­dict was deliv­ered on March 17, 2023. Both women were sen­tenced to 12 years in a gen­er­al-regime penal colony. Chek­ina was also fined $13,030.

Sen­tence: 12 years of impris­on­ment under Part 2 of Arti­cle 243 (grand tax eva­sion); Part 3 of Arti­cle 130 (incite­ment of racial, nation­al, reli­gious, or oth­er social hatred); Part 3 of Arti­cle 361 (encour­ag­ing actions aimed at harm­ing the nation­al secu­ri­ty of the Repub­lic of Belarus).

Judge: Valiantsi­na Zianke­vich

Pub­lic pros­e­cu­tor: Tat­siana Hrakun

Birth­day: 13 July 1973

Andrzej Poczobut, journalist, behind bars since 25 March 2021

On 25 March 2021, at the height of the Belaru­sian-Pol­ish diplo­mat­ic con­flict, mem­bers of the offi­cial­ly dis­graced Union of Poles in Belarus were searched in Hrod­na. The Gen­er­al Pros­e­cu­tor’s office brought a crim­i­nal case for “incite­ment of nation­al and reli­gious hatred.” Among the arrest­ed lead­ers of the orga­ni­za­tion was well-known jour­nal­ist Andrzej Poc­zobut, 49. The Union of Poles in Belarus, as well as the Pol­ish gov­ern­ment, stat­ed that the pros­e­cu­tion was “an act of intim­i­da­tion against the entire Pol­ish minor­i­ty in Belarus.” Fol­low­ing the Poc­zobut ver­dict, Poland closed anoth­er Pol­ish-Belaru­sian bor­der cross­ing, Bobrown­i­ki — Beras­tavit­sa.

Human rights activists rec­og­nized him as a polit­i­cal pris­on­er.

Fol­low­ing the Poc­zobut ver­dict, Poland closed anoth­er Pol­ish-Belaru­sian bor­der cross­ing, Bobrown­i­ki — Beras­tavit­sa.

Sen­tence: 8 years of impris­on­ment under Part 3 of Arti­cle 130 of the Crim­i­nal Code (incit­ing nation­al or reli­gious hatred or reha­bil­i­tat­ing Nazism) and under Part 3 of Arti­cle 361 of the Crim­i­nal Code (encour­ag­ing sanc­tions aimed at harm­ing nation­al secu­ri­ty).

Judge: Dzmit­ry Bubenchyk

Birth­day: 16 April 1973

Dzianis Ivashyn, investigative journalist, behind bars since 12 March 2021

Dzia­n­is Ivashyn, vol­un­teer edi­tor of the Inform­Na­palm inter­na­tion­al intel­li­gence com­mu­ni­ty and free­lance cor­re­spon­dent of Novy Chas news­pa­per, was detained by KGB offi­cers on 12 March 2021 in his apart­ment in Hrod­na. The jour­nal­ist has been charged with “obstruct­ing the work of a police­man” and “high trea­son.”

His fam­i­ly believes the deten­tion is con­nect­ed with Ivashyn’s inves­ti­ga­tion into the ser­vice of for­mer Ukrain­ian Berkut offi­cers in the Inte­ri­or Min­istry of Belarus.

On 14 Sep­tem­ber 2022, Dzia­n­is Ivashyn was sen­tenced to 13 years and 1 month in prison and a fine of $9,030.

The jour­nal­ist refused to coop­er­ate with the inves­ti­ga­tion and plead­ed not guilty. In jail, he was sub­ject­ed to all kinds of pres­sure.

Human rights activists rec­og­nized him as a polit­i­cal pris­on­er. Ivashyn was award­ed the Order of Paho­nia by the Belaru­sian Peo­ple’s Repub­lic Coun­cil.

Sen­tence: 13 years and 1 month of impris­on­ment under Arti­cle 179 of the Crim­i­nal Code (ille­gal col­lec­tion and dis­sem­i­na­tion of infor­ma­tion about pri­vate life) and Arti­cle 356 (high trea­son).

Judge: Valer Ramanous­ki

Birth­day: 6 June 1979

Andrei Aliaksandrau, journalist, behind bars since 12 January 2021

Andrei Ali­ak­san­drau, a jour­nal­ist, media man­ag­er, and for­mer Bela­PAN news agency deputy direc­tor, went out of con­tact on Jan­u­ary 12, 2021. Two days lat­er, it emerged that Andrei and his part­ner Iry­na Zlobi­na were arrest­ed and charged with riot­ing. The Deputy Min­is­ter of Inter­nal Affairs said that they had financed the pro­test­ers, “includ­ing by pay­ing their fines and com­pen­sat­ing deten­tion fees.” Human rights activists claimed that these were legit­i­mate char­i­ta­ble activ­i­ties.

On 30 June 2021, the jour­nal­ist was addi­tion­al­ly charged with “high trea­son.”

For his poems from behind bars, Andrei Ali­ak­san­drau won the Frantsishak Ali­akhovich Prison Lit­er­a­ture Award.

On 1 Sep­tem­ber 2022, Ali­ak­san­drau and Zlobi­na were mar­ried in Min­sk jail.

On 6 Octo­ber 2022, Min­sk Region­al Court sen­tenced Ali­ak­san­drau to 14 years of impris­on­ment on sev­er­al charges, includ­ing “instruct­ing indi­vid­u­als to par­tic­i­pate in riots” and “high trea­son.” Iry­na Zlobi­na was sen­tenced to 9 years of impris­on­ment.

Human rights activists rec­og­nized him as a polit­i­cal pris­on­er.

Sen­tence: 14 years of impris­on­ment (Arti­cle 342 of the Crim­i­nal Code (prepa­ra­tion of or par­tic­i­pa­tion in actions that gross­ly vio­late pub­lic order), Arti­cle 243 of the Crim­i­nal Code (tax eva­sion), Arti­cle 361–1 of the Crim­i­nal Code (estab­lish­ment of or par­tic­i­pa­tion in an extrem­ist for­ma­tion), Arti­cle 356 of the Crim­i­nal Code (high trea­son)).

Judge: Viachaslau Tulei­ka

Birth­day: 27 Jan­u­ary 1978

Katsiaryna Andreyeva, Belsat TV journalist, behind bars since 15 November 2020

On 15 Novem­ber 2020, Kat­siary­na Andreye­va (Bakhvala­va) was arrest­ed in an apart­ment on the Square of Change, from where she was broad­cast­ing the protests for the Bel­sat TV chan­nel. Ten SWAT offi­cers broke the door and rushed inside order­ing her to pack her things. Kat­siary­na was not told what she was being arrest­ed for.

Andreye­va was admin­is­tra­tive­ly detained for a week for “par­tic­i­pa­tion in an unau­tho­rized pub­lic assem­bly and dis­obe­di­ence to the police.” She plead­ed not guilty and accused the police offi­cers who drew up the report of giv­ing false tes­ti­mo­ny. She was lat­er accused of orga­niz­ing and prepar­ing actions that gross­ly vio­late pub­lic order.

On 18 Feb­ru­ary 2021, she was sen­tenced to two years of impris­on­ment.

On 10 Feb­ru­ary 2022, Kat­siary­na was trans­ferred back to jail and charged with “high trea­son.” On 13 July 2022, Aleh Kharosh­ka, a judge of Homel Region­al Court, sen­tenced the jour­nal­ist to 8 years and 3 months of impris­on­ment.

The jour­nal­ist was rec­og­nized as a polit­i­cal pris­on­er. Andreye­va was award­ed the Order of Paho­nia by the Belaru­sian Peo­ple’s Repub­lic Coun­cil.

Sen­tence: 2 years of impris­on­ment under 342 of the Crim­i­nal Code (orga­ni­za­tion and prepa­ra­tion of actions that gross­ly vio­late pub­lic order) and 8 years and 3 months of impris­on­ment under Arti­cle 356 of the Crim­i­nal Code (high trea­son).

Judges: Natal­lia Buhuk (first sen­tence), Aleh Kharosh­ka (sec­ond sen­tence).

Birth­day: 2 Novem­ber 1993

 

Yauhen Hlushkou, journalist, videographer, behind bars since 5 January 2024

Yauhen Hlushk­ou is a for­mer jour­nal­ist and video­g­ra­ph­er from Mahilou who worked with munic­i­pal tele­vi­sion and local news out­lets in the 1990s and 2000s.

He last con­tact­ed friends on Jan­u­ary 4, 2024. Neigh­bors lat­er report­ed see­ing police escort­ing him from home, and con­tact with him ceased. Hlushk­ou, who lived alone and had lim­it­ed con­tact with his fam­i­ly, is believed to have been detained on Jan­u­ary 4 or 5. An inves­ti­ga­tor lat­er informed his wife that he was under inves­ti­ga­tion.

Secu­ri­ty forces report­ed­ly forced him to record a video stat­ing he had col­lab­o­rat­ed with the 6tv.by media out­let, which Belaru­sian author­i­ties have labeled an “extrem­ist for­ma­tion.” This came amid a broad­er wave of arrests and search­es tar­get­ing Mahilou jour­nal­ists in Decem­ber 2023, fol­low­ing the des­ig­na­tion of Mogilev.Media and 6TV Belarus as extrem­ist groups.

In 2018, Hlushk­ou was fined $370 for “cre­at­ing media con­tent with­out press cre­den­tials.”

Accord­ing to the May­Day Team human rights activists, Hlushk­ou was arrest­ed dur­ing a raid on his home after refus­ing to open the door. Reports sug­gest he may face charges under Arti­cle 361–1 of the Crim­i­nal Code for alleged par­tic­i­pa­tion in an extrem­ist for­ma­tion.

The tri­al of Yauhen Hlushk­ou and Ales Sabaleus­ki began on July 12, 2024, at the Mahilou Region­al Court. Hlushk­ou was found guilty of “par­tic­i­pa­tion in the war in Ukraine” and “cre­at­ing and par­tic­i­pat­ing in an extrem­ist for­ma­tion.” On July 31, 2024, Hlushk­ou was sen­tenced to three years in prison.

Human rights activists rec­og­nized Yauhen Hlushk­ou as a polit­i­cal pris­on­er.

Sen­tence: 3 years in prison under Part 1 of Arti­cle 361–3 of the Belaru­sian Crim­i­nal Code (par­tic­i­pa­tion in hos­til­i­ties on the ter­ri­to­ry of a for­eign state with­out autho­riza­tion from the state); Part 1 of Arti­cle 361–1 (cre­ation of an extrem­ist for­ma­tion or par­tic­i­pa­tion in it); part 3 of Arti­cle 361–1 (par­tic­i­pa­tion in an extrem­ist for­ma­tion). He was also fined $2.500.

Judge: Dzmit­ry Kranzhyeus­ki

Birth­day: 11 Decem­ber 1968

Ales Sabaleuski, blogger, freelancer, behind bars since 12 December 2023

Ales Sabaleus­ki is a for­mer Mahilou blog­ger and jour­nal­ist who has worked with sev­er­al inde­pen­dent region­al pub­li­ca­tions. He ran a YouTube chan­nel cov­er­ing cul­tur­al and social life in Mahilou.

The blog­ger was arrest­ed on the morn­ing of Decem­ber 12, 2023 in Mahilou. He was vis­it­ed by the police at the rental office where he worked A few days ear­li­er, mul­ti­ple Mahilou jour­nal­ists had been arrest­ed and searched. They were inter­ro­gat­ed by the KGB when the Mahilou.Media and 6TV Bielarus were rec­og­nized as “extrem­ist for­ma­tions”.

Sabaleus­ki was ini­tial­ly detained for 10 days on unknown charges. Then anoth­er admin­is­tra­tive report was drawn up against him – for dis­trib­ut­ing “extrem­ist” mate­ri­als (Arti­cle 19.11 of the Admin­is­tra­tive Offens­es Code). How­ev­er, even after the sec­ond admin­is­tra­tive deten­tion that end­ed on Jan­u­ary 6, he was not released.

Accord­ing to the May­day Team Telegram chan­nel, run by Mahilou jour­nal­ists and human rights activists, Ales Sabaleus­ki may have been trans­ferred to a pre-tri­al deten­tion cen­ter.

In Jan­u­ary 2021, Sabaleus­ki was already searched. At that time, the edi­to­r­i­al office of the Mahilous­ki Rehi­jon web­site and the homes of sev­er­al region­al jour­nal­ists were raid­ed. The equip­ment seized dur­ing the search­es was not returned to the jour­nal­ists until Octo­ber 2022.

Accord­ing to Ales Sabaleuski’s cell­mates, he was beat­en dur­ing inter­ro­ga­tions, and bruis­es were vis­i­ble on his body.

Human rights activists sug­gest that Ales Sabaleuski’s crim­i­nal pros­e­cu­tion may be linked to the fact that region­al media, includ­ing the YouTube chan­nel 6TV Belarus and the Mahilou.Media web­site, were deemed “extrem­ist for­ma­tions.”

The tri­al of Ales Sabaleus­ki and Yauhen Hlushk­ou began on 12 July 2024 in the Mahil­iou Region­al Court. Sabaleus­ki was found guilty of “par­tic­i­pa­tion in the war in Ukraine” and “cre­ation and par­tic­i­pa­tion in an extrem­ist for­ma­tion.” The ver­dict was deliv­ered on 31 July 2024. Sabaleus­ki was sen­tenced to four years in prison.

Ales Sabaleus­ki was rec­og­nized as a polit­i­cal pris­on­er.

Sen­tence: 3 years in prison under Part 1 of Arti­cle 361–3 of the Belaru­sian Crim­i­nal Code (par­tic­i­pa­tion in hos­til­i­ties on the ter­ri­to­ry of a for­eign state with­out autho­riza­tion from the state); Part 1 of Arti­cle 361–1 (cre­ation of an extrem­ist for­ma­tion or par­tic­i­pa­tion in it); part 3 of Arti­cle 361–1 (par­tic­i­pa­tion in an extrem­ist for­ma­tion). He was also fined $2.500.

Judge: Dzmit­ry Kranzhyeus­ki

Birth­day: 15 Decem­ber 1967

 

Aliaksandr Liubianchuk, journalist, behind bars since 26 May 2022

In addi­tion to jour­nal­ism, Ali­ak­san­dr Liu­bianchuk was involved in char­i­ty work, orga­nized hik­ing trips, and helped pre­serve the his­tor­i­cal and cul­tur­al her­itage of the Navahru­dak region. He was detained fol­low­ing a search in the vil­lage of Kryvichy in the Iwye Dis­trict on May 26, 2022. The spe­cif­ic charges against him remained unknown until the tri­al.

On Octo­ber 27, the Min­sk City Court announced the ver­dict: 3 years in prison for “cre­at­ing or par­tic­i­pat­ing in an extrem­ist group.”

Human rights orga­ni­za­tions have rec­og­nized him as a polit­i­cal pris­on­er.

Sen­tence: 3 years in prison under Arti­cle 361–1 of the Crim­i­nal Code (cre­at­ing or par­tic­i­pat­ing in an extrem­ist group).

Judge: Ale­na Ananich

Birth­day: Sep­tem­ber 1

 

Andrei Famin, copywriter, behind bars since 26 October 2022

Andrei Famin is orig­i­nal­ly from Mahil­iou and lived in Min­sk. He grad­u­at­ed from the Belaru­sian State Acad­e­my of Arts and worked as a copy­writer.

His tri­al began on June 15, 2023. Famin was accused of alleged­ly being the edi­tor and author of arti­cles for the samiz­dat net­work Vies­ni­ki, which was declared an “extrem­ist group” a month and a half after his arrest. He was also charged with par­tic­i­pat­ing in a protest march on August 30, 2020, and call­ing for sanc­tions.

On June 21, 2023, he was sen­tenced to sev­en years in prison.

Human rights orga­ni­za­tions have rec­og­nized Andrei Famin as a polit­i­cal pris­on­er.

Sen­tence: 7 years of impris­on­ment under Part 3 of Arti­cle 361 of the Belaru­sian Crim­i­nal Code (calls for sanc­tions), Part 1 of Arti­cle 342 (par­tic­i­pa­tion in actions that gross­ly vio­late pub­lic order), Part 3 of Arti­cle 361–1 (cre­at­ing an extrem­ist for­ma­tion).

Judge: Anzhela Kast­siuke­vich

Birth­day: 3 Novem­ber 1993

 

Aliaksandr Ihnatsiuk, freelance journalist, behind bars since 18 July 2023

Ali­ak­san­dr Ihnat­siuk is a free­lance jour­nal­ist from the Palessie region. In the late 1990s and ear­ly 2000s, he pub­lished the inde­pen­dent region­al news­pa­per Viach­erni Stolin and served as its edi­tor-in-chief. In Decem­ber 2003, Ihnat­siuk was con­vict­ed of “insult­ing” the for­mer Stolin Dis­trict Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee chair­man, Uladz­imir Pashke­vich. He was fined $230.

The Min­istry of Infor­ma­tion repeat­ed­ly sus­pend­ed the newspaper’s pub­li­ca­tion, and Viach­erni Stolin was even­tu­al­ly shut down. Lat­er, Ihnat­siuk cre­at­ed the web­site Pra Stolin. On Feb­ru­ary 13, 2024, the web­site stolin.by and Ihnatsiuk’s per­son­al Vkon­tak­te page were des­ig­nat­ed as “extrem­ist mate­ri­als”; both had already been blocked in Belarus.

Ihnat­siuk was detained on July 18, 2023. His tri­al occurred behind closed doors from March 15 to April 5, 2024, in the Stolin Dis­trict Court. He was found guilty of orga­niz­ing protests in Stolin and Min­sk, “defam­ing Lukashen­ka,” and “extor­tion.” He was sen­tenced to 6 years in prison and fined $2,660.

Human rights orga­ni­za­tions have rec­og­nized Ali­ak­san­dr Ihnat­siuk as a polit­i­cal pris­on­er.

Sen­tence: 6 years in prison under Parts 1 and 2 of Arti­cle 208 of the Belaru­sian Crim­i­nal Code (extor­tion), Part 1 of Arti­cle 342 (orga­ni­za­tion and prepa­ra­tion of actions that gross­ly vio­late pub­lic order), Part 2 of Arti­cle 367 (defama­tion of Lukashen­ka), a fine of $2,660.

Judge: Siarhei Nase­nia

Date of birth: 12 Octo­ber 1971

 

Anton Kazelski, ONT cameraman, behind bars since 12 October 2023

Anton Kazel­s­ki was a cam­era­man for the state-run tele­vi­sion chan­nel ONT from 2022 to 2023. He had pre­vi­ous­ly lived in Rus­sia and was resid­ing in Min­sk at the time of his arrest. He is mar­ried and the father of four chil­dren. His youngest child was born after his deten­tion.

Kazel­s­ki was arrest­ed at his work­place. Accord­ing to a for­mer cell­mate, a col­league had called him into work and told him to bring his equip­ment. He is accused of “calls for sanc­tions and oth­er actions aimed at harm­ing nation­al secu­ri­ty” and “incit­ing hatred.” The charges may be relat­ed to com­ments he alleged­ly made on Telegram.

His tri­al began on May 20, 2024, in the Min­sk City Court. He was sen­tenced to three years in prison.

Human rights orga­ni­za­tions have rec­og­nized Anton Kazel­s­ki as a polit­i­cal pris­on­er.

Sen­tence: 3 years in prison under Part 3 of Arti­cle 361 of the Belaru­sian Crim­i­nal Code (calls for sanc­tions and oth­er actions to harm nation­al secu­ri­ty), Part 1 of Arti­cle 130 (incite­ment to hatred).

Judge: Svi­at­lana Makare­vich

 

Ales Marchanka, videographer, behind bars since 4 January 2024

Ales Marchanka was ini­tial­ly detained in an admin­is­tra­tive case on 19 Octo­ber 2023. He was sen­tenced to two con­sec­u­tive 15-day deten­tions. In one instance, he was accused of “dis­sem­i­nat­ing extrem­ist mate­ri­als” (Part 2 of Arti­cle 19.11 of the Admin­is­tra­tive Vio­la­tions Code).

He was tak­en into cus­tody in a crim­i­nal case on Jan­u­ary 4, 2024, accused of coop­er­at­ing with the Bel­sat TV chan­nel. His tri­al began on March 25, 2024, in the Min­sk City Court, and he was sen­tenced to three years in prison.

Sen­tence: 3 years in prison under Part 3 of Arti­cle 361–1 of the Crim­i­nal Code of Belarus (par­tic­i­pa­tion in an extrem­ist for­ma­tion)

Judge: Svi­at­lana Makare­vich

Birth­day: 27 May 1961

 

Volha Radzivonava, journalist, behind bars since 7 March 2024

Vol­ha Radzivon­a­va was detained on March 7, 2024. Dur­ing the inves­ti­ga­tion, she was sent for psy­chi­atric eval­u­a­tion.

Accord­ing to the Pros­e­cu­tor General’s Office, Radzivon­a­va authored a series of arti­cles for the Ger­man pub­li­ca­tion Die Tageszeitung that alleged­ly con­tained “state­ments aimed at incit­ing nation­al and social hatred, dis­cred­it­ing the Repub­lic of Belarus, as well as defama­tion and insults against Ali­ak­san­dr Lukashen­ka.”

On Decem­ber 10, 2024, Radzivon­a­va was impris­oned for four years and fined $1,150. The court also ordered her to for­feit income received from the pub­li­ca­tion of the arti­cles.

Volha’s moth­er, who is over 80 years old, is in poor health and requires con­stant care.

Human rights orga­ni­za­tions have rec­og­nized Radzivon­a­va as a polit­i­cal pris­on­er.

Sen­tence: 4 years in prison under Part 1 of Arti­cle 368 of the Crim­i­nal Code (insult­ing the Pres­i­dent of the Repub­lic of Belarus), Part 1 of Arti­cle 130 (incite­ment of oth­er social hatred or dis­cord), Parts 1 and 2 of Arti­cle 367 (defama­tion of the Pres­i­dent), and Arti­cle 369–1 (dis­cred­it­ing the Repub­lic of Belarus), along with a fine of $1,150.

Judge: Vera Halauko­va

 

Yauhen Nikalayevich, journalist, behind bars since 15 April 2024

Yauhen Nikalayevich is a pho­to and video cor­re­spon­dent for the region­al out­let Media-Polesye. In 2020, he cov­ered the protests in Pin­sk against fal­si­fy­ing pres­i­den­tial elec­tion results. On August 10, 2020, he was detained while work­ing in the city and beat­en.

At the end of August 2020, Nikalayevich was detained again while cov­er­ing a peace­ful protest in Pin­sk. He was sen­tenced to admin­is­tra­tive deten­tion, which he served in Novem­ber 2020. After­ward, he left Belarus and worked abroad in a field unre­lat­ed to jour­nal­ism.

In ear­ly 2024, Nikalayevich returned to Belarus. He was charged with “orga­niz­ing and prepar­ing actions that gross­ly vio­late pub­lic order, or active­ly par­tic­i­pat­ing in them.” In ear­ly Octo­ber 2024, he was sen­tenced to 1.5 years in prison in Pin­sk.

Sen­tence: 1.5 years in prison under Arti­cle 342 of the Crim­i­nal Code (orga­ni­za­tion and prepa­ra­tion of actions that gross­ly vio­late pub­lic order, or active par­tic­i­pa­tion in them).

Judge: Yauheniya Mel­nik

Birth­day: 25 Decem­ber 1996

 

Daniil Palianski, journalist, behind bards since 3 September 2024

Dani­il Palian­s­ki is a jour­nal­ist and video­g­ra­ph­er from Brest. He worked with both state and com­mer­cial TV chan­nels and inde­pen­dent region­al web­sites. In recent years, he vol­un­teered with the search and res­cue group “Angel” in Brest.

In ear­ly Sep­tem­ber 2024, he trav­eled to Rus­sia to vis­it rel­a­tives. On the way, he was stopped by Russ­ian Fed­er­al Secu­ri­ty Ser­vice (FSB) offi­cers, who accused him of fail­ing to com­ply with their orders and not pre­sent­ing his doc­u­ments. Upon his return to Brest, he was detained by the Belaru­sian KGB.

Palyan­s­ki is accused of high trea­son. He has been rec­og­nized as a polit­i­cal pris­on­er.

Charge: Arti­cle 356 of the Crim­i­nal Code (high trea­son)

 

Ihar Ilyash, journalist, behind bars since 22 October 2024

Ihar Ilyash is a jour­nal­ist who has worked with var­i­ous inde­pen­dent Belaru­sian media out­lets. His deten­tion was report­ed in Octo­ber 2024 by pro-gov­ern­ment Telegram chan­nels. Accord­ing to these sources, Ilyash is accused of assist­ing extrem­ist for­ma­tions — for giv­ing inter­views to inde­pen­dent media — and alleged­ly col­lect­ing infor­ma­tion for for­eign intel­li­gence ser­vices by com­ment­ing for Ukrain­ian pub­li­ca­tions.

Pre­vi­ous­ly, Ilyash was detained on July 16, 2021, dur­ing a nation­wide crack­down on inde­pen­dent jour­nal­ists. His apart­ment was searched, and his equip­ment and books were seized. He was detained as part of a crim­i­nal case and held in a tem­po­rary deten­tion facil­i­ty for 10 days. He was then released on July 26, 2021.

His wife, jour­nal­ist Kat­siary­na Bakhvala­va, has been impris­oned for polit­i­cal rea­sons since Novem­ber 15, 2020. She was ini­tial­ly sen­tenced to 2 years in prison; lat­er, the sen­tence was increased to 8 years and 3 months.

Ilyash’s tri­al began on Feb­ru­ary 21, 2025, in the Min­sk City Court. On March 13, 2025, it became known that the judge announced a pause in the hear­ings and sent his ana­lyt­i­cal pub­li­ca­tions for expert review.

Ihar Ilyash has been rec­og­nized as a polit­i­cal pris­on­er.

Charges: Arti­cle 369–1 of the Crim­i­nal Code (dis­cred­it­ing the Repub­lic of Belarus), Part 2 of Arti­cle 361–4 (pro­mot­ing extrem­ist activ­i­ty)

Judge: Siarhei Kat­sar

Birth­day: 18 July 1988

 

Siarhei Chabotska, owner and editor of the Hrodna-based news portal s13.ru, behind bars since 23 October 2024

He was ini­tial­ly arrest­ed on admin­is­tra­tive charges and sen­tenced to three con­sec­u­tive 15-day deten­tion terms—a total of 45 days—alleged­ly for “dis­sem­i­na­tion of extrem­ist mate­ri­als” and “vio­la­tion of rules for orga­niz­ing or con­duct­ing mass events.” These sen­tences were set to end on Decem­ber 7. How­ev­er, it lat­er emerged that a crim­i­nal case had been opened against him under charges of “cre­at­ing or par­tic­i­pat­ing in an extrem­ist for­ma­tion.” Chabot­s­ka is cur­rent­ly held in pre-tri­al deten­tion.

On Decem­ber 9, 2024, the KGB des­ig­nat­ed the s13.ru web­site an “extrem­ist for­ma­tion.” The out­let web­site and social media pages have not been updat­ed since Chabotska’s deten­tion.

Charges: Unknown

Birth­day: 13 June 1983