Political prisoners

Ivan most recently worked at Belenergo, installing and configuring fiber-optic networks and communications.

Ivan is a very active Telegram commentator. From 2019 to 2025, he left over 50,000 messages in open chats. Most of them weren't political—he discussed technology, offering professional advice on editing and network tools. However, he also wrote about politics. Kochanov supported the movement for free elections and condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine. At the same time, he criticized Europe and NATO, spoke out against the persecution of Belarusians abroad and repression, as well as against repression for the Russian language in Ukraine, as this "incites aggression."

He was convicted for comments in a chat room deemed extremist and for participating in protests in 2020. Two weeks after being transferred to the penal colony, Ivan was charged with a second criminal case related to the "Belarusian Gayun" chat room and was again transferred to a pretrial detention facility.

According to pro-government media, he is accused of financing terrorist activities in exchange for a donation of 50 USD to the Kalinovsky Regiment in 2023.

He was a student at the law faculty of Brest University, but then left for Poland.

The details of the case are unknown. Under the article incriminated, the Grodno resident faces imprisonment for a term of seven to fifteen years.

In January 2025, Belarusian propagandist Grigory Azarenok gave an interview to Russian journalist Ksenia Sobchak. During the conversation, Sobchak took a letter from Azarenok's desk with a ruling recognizing him as a victim in a criminal case.

Sobchak read the details of the resolution on camera. The letter states that a certain Satyshur collected and provided personal data of Azarenok to a foreign state. Azarenok said that he filed a complaint against Satyshur for posting the journalist's personal data on the Internet.

Former deputy head of the Zhodino GOVD, headed the criminal police and retired in 2008 with the rank of lieutenant colonel. Afterwards, he was the director of the Zhodino city center of culture and entertainment.

In 2020, he and four other former employees of the Zhodino City Department of Internal Affairs recorded an appeal to colleagues who worked in the Zhodino police during the protests and to all law enforcement officers in Belarus.

Vyacheslav says in his address that he understands that the employees serve in very difficult conditions, but calls on them to perform "their official duty the way you would like it to be performed [in relation to] you and your loved ones. Then you will be able to look the people in the eye now, during your service, and later, while on a well-deserved rest."

According to media reports , all five were detained in early February 2024.

Alexander ended up in court after participating in a chat roulette. He and a friend became interlocutors of the provocateur "Conversations with Palych" and during the conversation, being drunk, they spoke about the events in "Crocus City Hall", expressed support for Ukraine and allowed themselves to give a Nazi salute.

During the arrest, security forces severely beat Alexander. The man was convicted under administrative articles 5 times in a row and probably served at least 75 days of arrest. At the same time, he was given some days simply for having a Ukrainian pennant on the table and shouting "Glory to Ukraine" during a broadcast on chat roulette.

But after 24 hours he was not released. A criminal case was opened against him.

44-year-old Ivanovo resident Alexander Dorogupets was accused of transferring at least 11 thousand rubles in cash and cryptocurrency to “extremist groups,” including the Kalinovsky Regiment.

During the investigation of the criminal case, the man “voluntarily transferred” 600 thousand US dollars to the Cherven boarding school for disabled children with special psychophysical development needs, the Ivenets boarding school for disabled children with special physical development needs, and the Republican Center for the Organization of Medical Response.

On April 2, 2025, ONT aired another propaganda story, "Shadows. The Price of Terror," which told about the persecution of people for donations and those detained for financing organizations recognized by the authorities as "extremist" or "terrorist." The film showed several convicted people and those still awaiting trial. According to the story, Alexander was convicted, among other things, for donations to the Kalinovsky Regiment, BySol, and various information resources. The propagandists name 18 donations for a total of no less than three thousand euros.

The trial is being held behind closed doors. The nature of the charges against Nikolai is unknown.

The man worked as a deputy director of the confectionery production enterprise ChUP "Universal-Lux". It is known that Nikolai was born in Ukraine, but has Belarusian citizenship.

As an individual entrepreneur, he was engaged in the repair and maintenance of computer equipment.

Alexander was among the protesters who stood on Masherov Avenue in Brest on August 10, 2020. Security forces posted these photos in March 2024.

representative of the Minsk startup hub "Imaguru". A graduate of the EHU Master's program "European Studies", after which he worked in a number of NGOs and the private sector with business. Created and developed startup ecosystems in Belarus.

On May 3, 2024, the State Security Committee of Belarus added several media resources of the FreeInfoBel project to its list of so-called "extremist groups." They also identified specific individuals they believed were connected to the project—Volha Pashkevich and Iosif Dulebo. FreeInfoBel's inclusion was only revealed five days later, on May 8.

It's currently unknown what criminal case the man is being held on, but it's likely related to "extremism." It has been learned that Dulebo was initially detained on administrative charges. However, when the time came for his release from the temporary detention facility, Dulebo was not released; he was transferred to a pretrial detention center.

The man previously headed the Vitebsk division of the Belarusian Popular Front, but withdrew from party affairs in the early 2000s.

Details of the verdict became known from prosecutor Pleskatsevich’s comment to Pinsk state TV (the name of the accused is not named, but he is the only one who was tried in Pinsk in 2024 under the article “unrest”). The prosecutor recounted the position of the accused: on August 9, 2020, he voted at the polling station, returned home and drank a lot (about a bottle of vodka), after which “out of interest he went to look at the protesters near the city executive committee building.” What exactly the man did next at the protests, for what reasons, he did not remember due to alcohol (in his words). But the video captured what the prosecution qualified as follows: “he took an active part [in the riots], namely, with his actions he supported the pogrom and attacked the police with other protesters.”

Sergei was arrested right at college during classes in late December 2023. A pro-government film (April 2024) reported that six teenagers allegedly united into an "anarchist cell called 'Black Nightingales,'" which was created "under the leadership of the National Liberation Army of Ukraine" by 16-year-old Ukrainian citizen Maria Misiuk.

ONT staff claim the teenagers united to carry out acts of sabotage, following a tip, in Belarus and then in Russia. Maria is charged under Part 2 of Article 289 of the Criminal Code (act of terrorism). According to the report, 16-year-old Maria Misyuk moved with her family from Ukraine to Belarus in 2022, where she created an "anarchist cell to prepare terrorist attacks." Among those detained are college students in Baranovichi, Nesvizh, Mir, Minsk, and Luninets. They are Trofim Borisov, Sergey Zhigalyov , Dmitry Zakhoroshko, Anastasia Klimenko, and Alexandra Pulinovich. According to ONT staff, the young people gathered in a Baranovichi apartment to prepare for their first major action—to assemble explosives and blow up the Baranovichi police station or prosecutor's office. The charges against the remaining five participants are unknown, as are their statuses and locations.

After being transferred to the penal colony, Sergei was immediately placed in a punishment cell for a month.